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PIRATE BRIDGE 



FOSTER'S 

PIRATE BRIDGE 

THE LATEST DEVELOPMENT OF 

AUCTION BRIDGE 

WITH THE FULL CODE OF THE 
OFFICIAL LAWS 

BY 

R. F. FOSTER 

I, 

Author of "Foster's Complete Bridge,'* ** Auction Bridge for 

All," **The Complete Hoyle"; Inventor of the Eleven 

Rule and the Self-Playing Cards 



NEW YORK 

E. P. BUTTON & CO. 

1917 






Copyright, 191 7 

BY 

E. P. BUTTON & CO. 
{All rights reserved) 

THE LAWS 
Copyright, 19x6 

BY 

R. F. FOSTER 
Copyright, 1917 

BY 

E. P. DUTTON & CO. 
{All rights reserved) 



FEB 10 1917 

Printed in the United States of America 

©CI,A4r37026 



N 



DeDfcatcD 

TO 

FRANK CROWNINSHIELD 

whose enterprise and enthusiasm brought 

the game into the world and 

who christened it 

" Pirate " 



PREFACE 

The following pages are intended to set before 
the reader a complete description and exposition 
of the latest candidate for public favor in the 
realm of cards, without assuming on the reader's 
part any previous knowledge of similar games, 
although it is naturally expected that the largest 
appeal will be to those who are already familiar 
with auction bridge. 

The author has endeavored to explain the logic 
of the bidding as clearly as possible, illustrating 
the more interesting situations by hands from 
actual play. The system herein explained is not, 
of course, final, as time and experience will un- 
doubtedly suggest many improvements and re- 
finements as the game passes through the purifying 
process of expert play. 

Any hints, suggestions, or criticisms from those 
who try out the new game with players of varying 
abilities, will be greatly appreciated by the author. 



R. F. Foster. 



532 Monroe St., 
Brooklyn, N. Y. 



vu 



CONTENTS 








PAGE 

Preface ....... vii 


Historical 








I 


Introduction 








6 


Description of the Game 








13 


The Players . 
The Deal 








13 
. 14 


Object of the Game 
The Trick Values . 








15 
16 


Honor Scores 








16 


Slams and Bonuses 








. 18 


Penalties 








18 


The Bidding . 
Overcalling . 
Rank of the Bids . 








19 
20 
22 


Doubling 
The Play 
Scoring 








22 

24 
26 


Pirate Bridge Score-pad 








28 



CONTENTS 



Settling 

Average Rubber Values 
Bidding Tactics . 

Free and Forced Bids 

Major and Minor Suits 

Minor Suits . 

Major Suits . 
The Foundation 

Sure Tricks . 

Compensating Tricks 

No-trumpers 

What Are No-trumpers? 

Whitehead's Rule . 

Equal Suits . 

One-trick Bids 

Two-trick Bids 
Accepting . 

When to Accept 

Errors in Accepting 

Accepting Minor Suits 

Accepting Major Suits 

Accepting Two-trick Bids 
Delayed Bids 



CONTENTS 






xi 


PACK 

Refusing to Accept 82 


Rebidding the Hand . 








. 89 


Secondary Bids . 








. 92 


Position in Bidding . 








. 99 


Doubling . 








104 


Taking Stings 








. 109 


The Nullo 








. 113 


Playing NuUos 








. 116 


Playing the Hands . 








. 119 


Selecting the Suit . 








. 122 


Selecting the Card , 








. 123 


Secondary Leads . 








• 125 


The Partner 








. 128 


The Trump Echo . 








. 129 


The No-trump Echo 








. 130 


The Eleven Rule . 








. 132 


The Discard 








139 


The Reverse Discard 








. 141 


Second Hand Play 








. 142 


Returning Suits 








146 


The Declarer's Play. 








151 


Elimination . 








152 


Trump Play . 








154 



xii CONTENTS 








PAGE 

Playing No-trumpers . . . .157 


Reentries 








• 159 


Finessing . 








. 161 


Ducking 








. 164 


Postponed Finesses 








. 165 


Dummy's Position 








169 


Laws of Pirate Bridge 








■ 171 


Forming Tables 








. 171 


Cutting and Dealing 








. 172 


The Declarations . 








. 174 


Doubling 










. 177 


The Play 










. 177 


Errors in Play 










178 


Exposed Cards 










181 


The Revoke . 










183 


Dummy 






^ 


185 


Scoring . 










187 



PIRATE BRIDGE 



HISTORICAL 

The first place in the aristocracy of card games 
has now been in undisputed possession of some 
member of the whist family for more than two 
hundred years. This family embraces all the 
games that are played with the full pack of fifty- 
two cards, one suit being the trump, and the score 
being counted by tricks and honors. 

The progenitor of the family seems to have 
been a game called ruff-and-honors, which was 
played with only twelve cards of each suit. About 
1680 we find that swabbers had taken the place 
of the earlier game, and shortly afterward the 
deuces were restored to the pack, and whist was 
born. 

Whist was introduced to the world in 1674, by 
Charles Cotton, in his Compleat Gamester y 
and enlarged upon in The Court Gamester, 
by Richard Seymour, in 1719, after which came 
Edmund Hoyle, with his famous treatise on 
Short Whist, in 1742. 

From that time until the invention of duplicate 
whist, in 1890, the old-fashioned rubber was the 



2 PIRATE BRIDGE 

king of card games. In the United States, dupli- 
cate held its place in public favor until about 1897, 
when it began to v\^ane after the publication of 
the laws of bridge by The Whist Club of New 
York. 

Just v/here bridge originated has never been 
clearly settled. It seems to be a combination of 
several other games, notably geralasch, Siberia, 
and preference, and a game closely resembling 
bridge has been popular in Holland for many years. 
The name was originally ''biritch" supposed to 
be Russian, but there is no such word in Russian 
that has any meaning. As biritch came to us 
from the East, and is said to have been popular in 
Constantinople, Smyrna, and Southeastern Europe 
long before English-speaking people heard of it, 
the name may be a corruption. 

Bridge was brought to the United States by 
H. I. Barbey, in 1893, and was first explained to 
the members of what is now The Whist Club of 
New York. For a long time it did not attract 
any attention from card players at large, but by 
1897 the publication of the first code of official 
laws clarified it, and in a remarkably short space 
of time it had entirely superseded duplicate whist. 

For nearly fifteen years bridge held the center 
of the stage, when one day John Doe returned 
from a hill station in India with an idea that the 
game would be improved if the dealer had not 



PIRATE BRIDGE 3 

such a monopoly of the makes, his plan being to 
let each player in turn state what he thought 
should be the trump, putting the privilege of 
playing the dummy up at auction. 

Auction bridge introduced the first great change 
in the manner of scoring, as it restricted the possi- 
bility of winning the game to the side that made 
the highest bid. The opponents could score 
penalties, but they could never win a rubber 
unless they got the dummy. 

During these changes from whist to bridge and 
bridge to auction as it is played to-day, a number 
of changes were made in the rank and value of 
the suits, points being added for winning rubbers 
and slams, and penalties for irregularities in play 
were paid for in points. The laws are, unfortu- 
nately, the only part of the game that has not 
been thoroughly overhauled, and the code now in 
use in the principal card clubs in the country is 
simply a patched up reproduction of the one first 
issued by the Portland Club, in London, away back 
in 1 85 1, for the game of whist, and published by 
^'Cselebs.'* 

Even after all these changes in the game, each 
of which has been hailed as the perfect game of 
cards, good judges have been well aware that 
auction was far from perfect as a scientific game 
or an intellectual pastime, although each was an 
undoubted improvement on its predecessor. No 



4 PIRATE BRIDGE 

bridge player would go back to whist, neither would 
any auction player return to bridge; but auction, 
even in its most highly developed state, has many 
serious defects. 

It remained for Aleister Crowley, an English 
writer and traveler, who, like John Doe, had spent 
much time in India, to go a step further than Doe. 
The idea of auction bridge was to distribute the 
privilege of making the trump, giving every one 
at the table a chance. Crowley's idea was to 
distribute the privilege of picking the partner who 
could best support that trump, or who could offer 
the best defense against it. Instead of having 
all partnerships decided by their accidental posi- 
tion at the table, his plan was to have the partners 
select each other by a sort of proposal and accept- 
ance according to the suitability of their joint 
hands. 

He laid the matter before Frank Crowninshield, 
the editor of Vanity Fair, in New York, who at 
once saw its possibilities, christened it ^' pirate 
bridge,'' and undertook to introduce it to the world 
through a series of articles beginning in the Janu- 
ary number, 191 7, after the game had been worked 
over, rounded out, and polished up by the experi- 
ence gained during the course of several experi- 
mental rubbers, all of which were private, and 
formed the foundation for the laws. 

Pirate bridge was first brought to the attention 



PIRATE BRIDGE 5 

of some members of the Knickerbocker Whist Club 
in New York, on November 3, 191 6. Those who 
took part in the first pubHc rubber of pirate bridge 
ever played were; E. T. McLaughlin, C. W. 
Burkhart, G. M. Scott, E. T. Baker, and the 
writer, Messrs. Crowley and Crowninshield being 
interested spectators. A few days later four 
ladies, members of various card clubs, played six 
rubbers in two hours, Mrs. F. A. Irish, Mrs. T. 
M. Clarke, Mrs. C. W. Stewart, and Mrs. R. F. 
Foster. 

During the weeks that followed, the game was 
tried out in various companies, with all classes 
of players, both men and women and everywhere 
met with an enthusiastic reception. Informal 
talks were given at the leading clubs, and many 
useful points were picked up, thanks to the sug- 
gestions and advice of a number of experts at 
auction who took an immediate interest in the new 
game. 



INTRODUCTION TO THE GAME 

It seems to be the natural tendency of all card 
games to improve, to be modified by time and riper 
experience, to slough off the parts that militate 
against their popularity, and to take on features 
that make them attractive to a wider circle of 
players. 

There is only one game that no one has been 
able to improve, a game that seems to have come 
perfect from the hands of its creator, and that is 
cribbage. In spite of the fact that some member 
of the whist family has always been the most 
popular game in the English-speaking world, the 
changes in the transition from the original game 
of "single-double-and-the-rub" to the present 
game of auction have been more numerous and 
more radical than in any other game upon the 
cards. 

Whist had the defect that the trump was de- 
termined by pure chance, and that many of the 
strongest hands were wasted because the trump 
that was turned up did not suit them. Bridge 
remedied that defect by allowing the dealer to 

6 



PIRATE BRIDGE 7 

select the trump, and permitting his adversaries 
to double the value of the tricks if they thought 
the selection a bad one. 

But bridge had the defect that the dealer and 
his partner had a monopoly of the business of 
selecting the trump, and while the game was un- 
doubtedly an improvement upon whist in that 
respect, it did not go far enough, because no matter 
how good the hands held by the dealer's opponents, 
they had nothing to say about naming a trump 
that would suit them. 

Auction bridge corrected this fault by allowing 
each player at the table an opportunity to pick 
the trump, and letting the highest bidder try it. 
But auction in turn had a number of defects, 
some of which were remedied by bringing the 
suit values closer together, allowing the dealer 
to pass without a bid, until card players came to 
think they were at last in possession of a perfect 
game. 

But unprejudiced players were keenly alive 
to the fact that auction had at least half a dozen 
more or less serious defects. The most obvious 
of these was the frequency of misfit hands; an- 
other was the impossibility of getting away from 
a rash or uncongenial partner. Still another 
was the repeated losses in penalties through the 
defeat of perfectly legitimate bids, a disaster 
which the partner was often helpless to warn 



8 PIRATE BRIDGE 

against or prevent, even if he saw it coming. This 
led to another objection, the long drawn out 
rubbers, in which each side penalizes the other 
indefinitely, only to find the difference in the 
scores at the end of the rubber almost negligible. 

The possibility of these long rubbers made two 
serious objections to the game. Those who wished 
to play but had not much time at their disposal 
were afraid of missing their train or dinner, while 
those who were not pressed for time might have 
to wait nearly two hours for a rubber to be finished 
before they could cut in. 

Another objection to auction is the utter help- 
lessness of the poor card-holder. There is nothing 
he can bid himself; there is nothing he can do to 
help his partner and the only course is to sit still 
and take his medicine, losing rubber after rubber, 
or quit the game. 

Another objection to auction, not obvious to 
the average player perhaps, is that it is not a good 
gambling game, because no one can win without 
sharing all his good fortune with another person. 
There is no chance for the display of individual 
skill, apart from the assistance or handicap of the 
player who happens to be sitting opposite. Gains 
and glory are alike divided. It is always **we'* 
that won the rubber; never *'I." 

Pirate bridge entirely removes every one of 
these objections, without bringing in others to 



PIRATE BRIDGE 9 

take their place. There is no longer any excuse 
for misfit hands, unless the selection is deliberate. 
The best spade declaration gets the hand best 
fitted to support it against the best heart or no- 
trump declaration, and the hand best fitted to 
support that contract. 

The person sitting opposite you is not your 
partner on that account. There need no longer 
be any shrinking from cutting into a rubber with 
the worst player in the club. You need never 
accept him for a partner unless you are sure he 
will suit you, and if he accepts you when you do 
not want him, you can usually get rid of him by 
accepting some one else yourself. 

The bidding in pirate bridge being largely in- 
formative, there is no excuse for undertaking a 
contract that is bound to fail, except with the 
deliberate intention of taking a penalty to save a 
game or rubber, neither of which is of sufficient 
value to justify such a risk. In practice, it has 
been found that penalties are comparatively rare 
in pirate bridge, whereas the statistics of auction 
seem to show that eight contracts fail for every 
eighteen that succeed. This fact alone would 
seem to indicate that the system upon which such 
contracts are based must be fundamentally 
defective. 

Owing to the continual combination of the hands 
best fitted to carry out a contract on a named suit, 



10 PIRATE BRIDGE 

a large number go game on the deal, and slams 
are very common. This quickness of play more 
than makes up for any slowness in the bidding, as 
compared to auction. Very few rubbers go to five 
deals, and the average seems to be about three-and- 
a-half, among good players. Six rubbers in two 
hours is not at all uncommon. Too many deals 
to a rubber is a sure sign of inexperience, or bad 
accepting. 

As a gambling proposition, for those who like 
a little excitement, pirate bridge is infinitely 
superior to auction. Each is for himself and plays 
his own hand. If he wins, he wins from all three 
of the others. If he loses, he usually has no one 
to blame but himself unless he holds shocking' 
cards, because even the poorest hands have a 
chance if they use good judgment in picking 
up the right partner at the right time. 

With regard to the average value of the rubber, 
as compared to auction, which is always an inter- 
esting point to those who play for stakes, the 
detailed score of eight consecutive rubbers will be 
found in the chapter on "Scoring." Statistics 
have shown that the average rubber at auction is 
close to 400 points, which two players lose and 
two win. The average at pirate bridge will run 
between 500 and 600, so far as can be judged 
from the figures at hand for so young a game. 
This would suggest that if the stake one is accus- 



PIRATE BRIDGE n 

tomed to is penny points, they should be cut in half 
until the game becomes more familiar, as beginners 
are apt to make expensive mistakes in any game. 

The average number of deals in auction is a 
fraction over 5 to the rubber. In pirate bridge 
it is a fraction over 3, the difference being due to 
the large number of hands that go game and the 
scarcity of contracts that are set. 

Perhaps the most attractive feature of the new 
game to many persons will be the complete eHmi- 
nation of any disputes about those conventional 
bids upon which writers on the game have never 
been able to agree, such as taking out no-trumpers, 
or warning the partner against suit declarations. 

The occasion for either of these cannot arise 
in pirate bridge. If you think a suit bid will not 
find the proper support in your cards, do not 
accept it. If you think you are too weak to be of 
any help to a no-trumper, there is no necessity 
to shoulder a heavier contract, because all you 
have to do is to refuse to play the hand at no- 
trumps with the player that makes the bid. 

Another point in auction is the continual fault- 
finding by those who consider that an increased 
bid is not justified if the partner has refused to 
assist the original bid. In pirate, if the partner 
who has accepted the first bid does not think the 
advance is justified, all he has to do is to refuse to 
accept it. 



12 PIRATE BRIDGE 

An entirely new feature, adding greatly to the 
variety and interest of the play, is the continual 
change in the position of the dummy with regard 
to the declarer, it being sometimes opposite him, 
as at auction, sometimes immediately on his right 
or left. The opportunities this gives for taking 
advantage of certain combinations that can be 
led up to; avoiding those that should not be led 
through, and placing the adversaries between 
the upper and nether millstone of the strong suits, 
are not only endless but almost infinite. 



DESCRIPTION OF THE GAME 

Pirate bridge is played with two full packs of 
fifty-two cards, which should be of different colors. 
The cards rank from the A K Q down to the deuce 
in play, but in cutting the ace is low. The four 
suits outrank one another in the order of clubs, 
which is the lowest, then diamonds, hearts, and 
spades. No-trumps outranks any suit. 

THE PLAYERS 

The game is played by four persons, each for 
himself, with no permanent partnerships. If 
there are more than four candidates for play, those 
who shall play the first rubber are decided by cut- 
ting, the table being complete with six candidates. 
The pack is usually spread, face downward, and 
all draw from it. The four cards at each end must 
not be drawn. If equal cards are drawn, the spade 
has the preference, then the heart, then the dia- 
mond. If more than one card is drawn by any 
player, the highest is his cut. 

The four active players who are to take part 
in the rubber draw for seats, choice of packs, and 

13 



14 



PIRATE BRIDGE 



the first deal. If a player exposes more than one 
card, he must cut again. The lowest cut chooses 
his seat and cards and deals the first hand. The 
next lowest sits on his left and so on. For con- 
venience in describing the positions of the players, 
their seats are designated by the points of the 
compass, thus: 




THE DEAL 



The pack having been properly shuffled and 
presented to the player on the right to be cut, at 
least four cards being left in each packet, the 
dealer distributes the cards one at a time from left 
to right, until each has thirteen. No trump is 
turned. 

No matter what happens, the dealer cannot lose 
his deal except in the event of no one making an 
acceptable bid, which is almost impossible. All 
irregularities in the deal will be found covered by 
the ofiicial laws of the game, which are given at 
the end of this volume. 

The player sitting opposite the dealer shuffles 
the still pack and places it on his right, to the 



PIRATE BRIDGE 15 

left of the next dealer. The deal passes to the 
left, its position being marked by the still pack. 

OBJECT OF THE GAME 

The object of the game is to win points. If a 
stake is played for, the value of these points must 
be settled beforehand. Playing penny points, 
the average value of a rubber will be somewhere 
between five and six doUars. 

These points are divided into two classes; 
those made by tricks, in which the value is decided 
by the trump declared, and those made by hold- 
ing honors in the trump suit, by bonuses for win- 
ning games, or slams, or by getting penalties. 

The chief aim of the players is to secure the 
naming of the trump that suits their hand, and they 
bid against one another for the privilege of playing 
with a certain suit for trumps, or no-trumps, and 
also to secure a certain player for a partner. One 
bids a suit; another "accepts" him. The highest 
accepted bid is called the ** contract" and the 
individual player who made the bid is called the 
"declarer," his acceptor being his dummy, with- 
out changing seats. If the declarer succeeds in 
carrying out his contract, he scores toward game 
according to the value of the tricks in the suit he 
names. His acceptor scores everything above 
the line. 



i6 PIRATE BRIDGE 

The first six tricks the declarer wins do not 
count, as they constitute his *^book"; but all he 
wins over the book count toward game. They 
are called "odd tricks," or ''by cards." 

The object of those opposed to the declarer 
and his acceptor is to save the game, or to defeat 
the contract, by preventing him from winning the 
necessary tricks. With this in view, they may 
have continued their bidding so as to lead him to 
overbid his hand. 

THE TRICK VALUES 

The value of the tricks taken by the declarer 
varies with the suit named as the trump. The 
value of those taken by the opponents over their 
book, which is the difference between the contract 
and seven, never varies with the declaration, the 
penalty for the failure of the contract being the 
same with any trump, or at no-trumps. 

When clubs are trumps, each trick over the 
declarer's book is worth 6 points, so that it would 
take five by cards to win the game in one deal. In 
diamonds it is 7, in hearts 8, in spades 9, and in 
no-trumps 10. No-trump is the only declaration 
that can go game with three by cards in one deal. 

HONOR SCORES 

Players will sometimes risk bidding more than 
the hand is worth in tricks on account of their 



PIRATE BRIDGE 17 

holding certain valuable scoring combinations 
in the highest trumps, which are called honors. 
These do not count toward winning, any games, 
but they influence the ultimate value of the rubber. 

The honors are the A K Q J 10 of the trump 
suit, if there is a trump, or the four aces if there is 
no trump. They are always scored^'* above the 
line," as will be explained when we come to the 
method of scoring the game. 

If two partners hold three honors in trumps 
between them, called '* simple honors," their value 
is equal to two tricks. This would be 16 in honors 
if hearts were trumps. If they hold four between 
them, their value is four tricks, or 36 if spades 
were trumps. Five honors between partners are 
worth five tricks. 

If there are four or five honors in one hand, they 
are worth double, so that four honors in clubs 
would be worth 48. Five in one hand in hearts 
would be worth 80. Four in one hand and the 
fifth in the partner's are worth nine tricks, or 81, 
if spades were trumps. 

When there is no-trump, three aces between 
partners are worth 30 in honors; four aces 40; 
but four in one hand are worth 100. If the aces 
are split, neither side scores them. This is called 
**aces easy." 

Both partners score all honors held by either 
or both. 



l8 PIRATE BRIDGE 

SLAMS AND BONUSES 

If either side wins the whole thirteen tricks, it 
is a grand slam, and scores loo in honors for each 
of the partners. If twelve tricks are won by the 
same partners it is a little slam, and worth 50 in 
honors to each of them. 

When a player wins a game, by reaching or 
passing 30 points below the line, made by tricks 
alone, he adds 50 in honors as a bonus. If he wins 
the rubber game, he adds a further 50, or 100 in 
all for that game. All but the last 50 points are 
also credited to his acceptor, in the honor column. 

Should a player require two deals to win a game, 
each with a different acceptor, making, say, 16 on 
one deal and 20 on another, the acceptor on the 
first deal gets no bonus of 50, although it may be 
urged that he helped to win the game. It is only 
the acceptor on the deciding hand that scores 50. 

PENALTIES 

If a player overbids his hand and undertakes a 
contract that fails to win as many tricks as he bid, 
neither side scores anything toward game, but 
each of the opponents takes 50 in honors for each 
trick by which the contract fails, no matter what 
the trump suit may be, or if it is a no-trumper. 
The penalty is always 50 a trick, but it may be 
doubled or redoubled. 



PIRATE BRIDGE 19 

THE BIDDING 

The dealer has the first bid, and may name any 
number of tricks from one to seven in any suit, 
or at no-trump, or he may pass. The number he 
bids is the number of tricks he undertakes to win 
over the first six taken by his side. If the dealer 
passes, each player in turn to the left can make 
a bid or pass. If no one will make a bid, the 
deal is void and passes to the next player on the 
left. 

As soon as a bid is made, each player in turn 
to the left must either pass or accept, as no bid 
can be raised, overcalled, or doubled until it has 
been accepted by some player and a partnership 
formed to bid against. The usual forms are, 
"One heart," "I accept," or **I accept one heart," 
or ''I pass." 

The acceptor signifies his willingness to be the 
dummy partner of the bidder for that deal on that 
declaration, but he does not bind himself to con- 
tinue the partnership in case any further bidding 
takes place. 

Any player making a bid before the previous 
bid has been accepted is barred from bidding until 
the previous bid has been accepted and some other 
bid made. The player in error is then free to 
accept, or he may bid higher if the new bid is 
accepted before it gets to his turn. 



20 PIRATE BRIDGE 

If no one will accept a bid, it is void, and it 
becomes the turn of the player to the left of the 
unaccepted bidder to make a bid or pass, just as 
if the unaccepted bid had never been made. If a 
bid of three spades is the first one made and no one 
accepts it, the next player may bid one club, or 
anything he likes. If he is not accepted, it is the 
turn of the player to his left, and so on. A player 
whose bid has been refused cannot bid again 
until some other bid is made and accepted, but he 
may be the acceptor of the new bid. 

If no one can make an acceptable bid, the deal 
is void, and passes to the left. 

OVERCALLING 

The moment a bid is accepted, each player in 
turn to the left of the acceptor, including the one 
whose bid has just been accepted, may bid higher 
or pass. Either of the pair who are now left as 
the opponents of the declaration can double in 
his proper turn, after which either the bidder or 
his acceptor can redouble, but that ends it. 

If no one will overcall an acceptance, the accep- 
tor himself cannot bid higher, because he has 
signified that the declaration made suits him better 
than anything else. If he had a better bid in 
view he should not have accepted. But the bid- 
der may have another chance to get a better 
partner in another declaration, . 



PIRATE BRIDGE 21 

Suppose S bids two spades, W and N passing, 
and E accepts. If S had a two-suiter, or did not 
like E for a partner, he might now bid two no- 
trumps, or three in some suit other than spades. 
If S passes when E accepts, it will be W's turn to 
bid higher or pass. If W bids, either N or E or 
S may accept him. If W passes, N may bid, and 
either E, S, orW may accept N. If three players 
pass an acceptance without a bid or double, the 
bidding is closed. 

If a bid has been made and accepted, and the 
player who overcalls it cannot find an acceptor, 
the bid that overcalls is void, and the situation 
returns to the previous acceptance. Suppose S 
bid two spades, accepted by W, and N then bids 
three diamonds, which is not accepted. The 
bidding returns to the two spades, and it is E's 
turn to say something. If E has nothing to say, 
and S does not want to change from the two-spade 
contract with W for his partner, the bidding is 
closed, because N cannot bid again after having 
failed to find an acceptor for his three diamonds. 

A player who has passed an acceptance cannot 
bid again unless some higher bid is made and 
accepted, although he may accept such a bid. 
Suppose S bids two spades, accepted by W, and 
N passes. If E bids three hearts and no one 
accepts him, that bid is void. S is then the 
only one that can bid, because W is barred by 



22 PIRATE BRIDGE 

being an acceptor, and N by having passed an 
acceptance. 

RANK OF THE BIDS 

Any bid of an equal number of tricks in a supe- 
rior suit will outrank the lower suit. Two dia- 
monds will overcall two accepted clubs, or three 
hearts three diamonds. Three no-trumps will 
overcall any acceptance of three in any suit. 

A greater number of tricks in anything will 
overcall a smaller number in anything. Three 
clubs will outbid two accepted no-trumps. 

DOUBLING 

Doubling has no effect on the honors, slams, or 
bonuses for winning games, nor does it alter the 
trick values in the bidding. Three clubs doubled 
and redoubled can still be overcalled by three 
diamonds; but if a double stands, the trick values 
are doubled in scoring toward game, the penalties 
are doubled if the contract fails, and the revoke 
penalty is doubled. 

When the final bid and acceptance is doubled, 
and the contract succeeds, three by cards in clubs 
would be worth 36, and a game won. If it was 
redoubled three clubs would be worth ']2 and a 
game won ; but the 50 bonus for winning the game 
is not doubled; neither are the scores for honors 
as held. 



PIRATE BRIDGE 23 

In addition to this, the declarer would score 50 
in honors for fulfilling a doubled contract. If 
it was redoubled he would score 100. If he made 
any tricks in excess of his contract, he would score 
50 more for each of them, 100 if redoubled. His 
acceptor scores all these gains. 

If the contract fails, the declarer's side scores 
nothing but honors, and each of his opponents 
score 100 for each trick by which it fails, instead 
of the 50 they would have scored without doub- 
ling. If they are redoubled, they score 200 for 
each trick over their book, which is the difference 
between the contract and seven. 

It is only after a bid has been accepted that 
one of the opposing partners can double in his 
proper turn. A double reopens the bidding, and 
if the partner does not approve of it, he can 
perhaps bid himself out of it. If he cannot find 
an acceptor, the double stands. Either the bidder 
or his acceptor can take himself out of the double, 
as doubling is the same as a higher bid, but 
automatically accepted. 

Suppose S bids two spades, W accepts and N 
doubles. If E does not like the double, or thinks 
it unsound, he can bid three in anything, or two 
no-trumps, and if he can find an acceptor the 
doubled spade is void. If he cannot find an accep- 
tor and the partners who are doubled decline to 
go further, the double stands. 



24 PIRATE BRIDGE 

THE PLAY 

The final bid and acceptance being settled, the 
player to the left of the bidder may lead any card 
he pleases. If that player happens to be the 
acceptor, the player to his left leads. 

The moment the first card is led by the proper 
player, and before the second card is played to 
the trick, the acceptor's cards are laid on the 
table, face up and sorted into suits, trumps to his 
right, wherever he happens to sit, so that the 
dummy may be immediately to the right or left 
of the declarer, or opposite him. Each player in 
turn must follow suit if he can, the declarer and 
dummy playing one after the other if they happen 
to sit together. 

The declarer takes full charge of the play from 
his acceptor's hand, the dummy not being allowed 
to offer any advice, nor to suggest the play of any 
card, nor to remind the declarer of any previous 
play or any incident of the bidding. 

The revoke penalty is 50 points in honors. See 
Law 53. If a player revokes and fails to correct 
the error in time, he pays 50 in honors to each of 
the three others. But if his partner has failed to 
ask him if he had none of the suit to which he 
renounced, the partner must pay the 50 points to 
each of the three others, the player in error paying 
nothing. 



PIRATE BRIDGE 25 

The declarer gathers all the tricks for his side. 
The first six that constitute his book are usually 
gathered together, or kept separate from tricks 
over the book, so that each side may readily count 
the number of tricks already won. 

Either of the opponents may gather the tricks 
for their side, and they usually bunch the tricks 
that make their book, so that all over that number 
may be recognized as defeating the contract. This 
is usually referred to as the number of tricks by 
which the declarer is "set." 



SCORING 
PIRATE SCORE-PAD 

The score-pads for pirate bridge are ruled in 
four columns, with a space for the player's initials 
at the top of each. These columns are divided 
into two parts by a heavy horizontal line across 
the pad, below which all trick scores are entered, 
and above which all the honors, slams, and penal- 
ties are recorded, with the bonuses for going game 
and winning the rubber. 

No one can score below the line toward game 
but the individual player who made the last 
accepted bid, as he plays the hand as declarer, no 
matter what bids, or by whom made, have pre- 
ceded his. 

If the contract succeeds, the declarer scores the 
value of the tricks below the line, honors, if any, 
above, and if he wins a game adds 50 for it. In 
case a game is won, a line is drawn under all four 
columns, to show that each player must start afresh 
for the next game. Any points short of 30 made 
on that game will not count toward the next game. 

All the points made by the declarer are also 
26 



PIRATE BRIDGE 27 

credited to the account of his acceptor, but only 
in the honor column, above the Hne. Suppose the 
declarer makes four odd in spades and there are 
four honors between the two hands. He scores 
36 below the line, and draws a line under it to in- 
dicate a game won. Then he takes 36 in honors 
and 50 for the game, or 86 above the line. His 
acceptor is then credited with the whole 122 in 
honors. 

In order to show the manner in which successive 
scores would be entered, the following diagram is 
arranged to keep points made on the same deal 
opposite each other, but in practice, of course, 
there would be no space left between one entry 
and the one next above it. 

These scores were made in this order : 

(A) Jones started with four odd in spades and 
four honors, winning the first game with Smith 
as his acceptor. 

(B) Green made four odd in diamonds, and 
again Smith was the acceptor. This does not 
quite reach game but is worth 28 below, and 14 
for simple honors, Smith getting the entire 42 in 
honors. 

(C) On the third deal, White is the declarer and 
Jones the acceptor, making three odd and 30 aces. 
This wins the game, giving White a bonus of 50 
in addition to the 30 aces, while Jones gets the 
no in honors. A line is drawn under this game. 



28 



PIRATE BRIDGE 



PIRATE BRIDGE SCORE PAD 





Jones 


Smith 


Green 


White 


(G 


50 


— 


— 


— 


^^2 


145 


— 


— 


199 


(E) 


— 


— 


— 


20 


(i>) 


64 


50 


64 


50 


(C) 


no 






80 


(B) 


— 


42 


14 


— 


(A) 


86 


122 




~~- 


(A) 


36 


— 


— 


— 


(B) 


_ 


_ 


28 


_ 


(C) 


— 


— 


— 


30 


(E) 




_ 


20 




(F) 


54 


— 




— 




545 


214 


126 


379 



(D) On the fourth deal Green bid up to four 
hearts, Jones accepting him, but the contract 
failed by one trick, so that there was no score 
below the line, Smith and White each taking 50 
penalty for the trick by which the contract failed, 
while Green and Jones scored four honors in one 
hand in hearts, 64 points. [In actual practice this 
would be entered as 14 for them on the balance, 
nothing for the opponents.] 

(E) On the next deal Green bid no-trump and 
White accepted him. They made two by cards 
only, aces easy, so Green scored 20 below the 



PIRATE BRIDGE 29 

line and White got the 20 in honors. The 28 
points that Green made two deals before is of no 
use to him to win this game, as the game in which 
the 28 was made is closed. 

(F) On the next deal, Jones made a little slam 
in spades, with five honors between partners. 
This gives him 54 and a game below, and 45 in 
honors, 50 for the slam, 50 for game, 145 above the 
line. White being the acceptor, he gets the whole 
199 in honors. 

As this makes two games won by Jones, he wins 
the rubber and adds (G) 50 points for it, which 
are not shared by his acceptor. The scores are 
now all added up, ready to be balanced, as each 
player wins from or loses to each of the. others. 

SETTLING 

As it is usual in clubs to throw off the units 
and even the tens, reducing the amounts to even 
hundreds or fifties, we get this result in dollars: 



Jones 

545 
5 



Smith 

214 
2 



Green 

126 
I 



White 

379 

4 



There are then two ways to settle. The simpler 
is to call the lowest score o, deduct it from the 
others, as all are plus, and add these three win- 
nings together, which must be what the lowest 



30 



PIRATE BRIDGE 



score loses. The next step is to multiply each 
score by 4 and deduct what the lowest score loses 
from each in turn, thus: 



Jones 

4 


Smith 

I 


Green 




White 

3=8 


4 times: + i6 
Less 8: — 8 


+ 4 
— 8 


+ 

— 8 


+ 12 

— 8 


+ 8 


— 4 


— 8 


+ 4 



The value of the game is I2 points, the winnings 
shared by Jones and White; the losses paid by 
Smith and Green. As two share the I2, this 
would be called a 6 rubber. 

Another way is to take the scores as they stand 
and balance each with the other separately, like 
this: 



Jones 
5 


Smith 

2 


Green 
I 


White 
4 


+ I 


— 3 

+ I 

— 2 


— 3 


— I 

+ 2 

+ 3 


+ 8 


— 4 


— 8 


+ 4 



Jones is plus 3 as compared to Smith, so Smith 
is put down minus 3. Jones is plus 4 as com- 



PIRATE BRIDGE 



31 



pared to Green, so Green is minus 4. Then we 
get to Smith, who is i plus as compared to Green, 
but 2 minus when compared to White, and so on. 
The result is the same by either method. 

When several players belong to a table or play 
several rubbers without settling up, it is usual to 
carry the results forward on a "wash-book** or 
*'iiogger," upon which the number of points, or 
their value in cash, is set down as a plus or minus 
opposite the name of the player. A wash-book 
may be ruled Vv^ith separate columns for plus and 
minus, or one column may do for both if a ring is 
drawn round the losing end to show that the player 
is so much "in the hole." 

Here is an example of a wash-book for a table 
of six players at the end of four rubbers: 



Jones 
Smith 
Green 
White 
Black 
Brown 



— 4 

— 8 



+ 4 



+ 8 
+ I 

+ 4 

+ 3 



— 6 



+ 13 

+ I 

+ 2 



— 10 



+ 4 



+ 8 
+ 5 



— 6 

I 
10 



+ 4 



The first score noted is that of the rubber scored 
in full on a previous page. For the second rubber 
Jones and White were cut out, giving way to 
Brown and Black, so that the Jones and White 
scores remain stationary. On the third rubber, 
Green and Smith retired, allowing Jones and White 
to come in again, and so on. 



32 



PIRATE BRIDGE 



The wash-book can be checked up at any time, 
as the winnings must always balance the losses 
for the whole table. At the end of the fourth 
rubber it will be seen that seventeen dollars, or 
dimes, or whatever the stakes may be, have been 
won and lost. 

AVERAGE RUBBER VALUES 

Those who are accustomed to auction may be 
interested in the following table of eight consecu- 
tive rubbers with four good players, the points 
won by each being set down opposite the number 
of the rubber under their initials. The number of 
deals to each rubber is also indicated. Only 
three contracts were lost; one in the second rubber, 
two in the fourth. Time, 3 hours. 



Rubbers 


Deals 


A. 


B 


C 


D 


I 


3 


158 


100 


410 


618 


2 


3 





400 


160 


184 


3 


3 


290 


300 


775 


175 


4 


4 


540 


464 


56 





5 


2 


140 


296 





116 


6 


2 


370 


130 


190 





7 


4 


389 


346 


246 


489 


8 


3 


114 


122 


312 


372 



In any rubber that is finished in two deals, both 
being won by the same player, there must be some 
player of the four whose score is zero. 

These eight rubbers were played at ten cents a 



PIRATE BRIDGE 



33 



point. The following table shows the amounts 
won and lost in each in dollars, only the units 
being thrown off. This made the basis of calcula- 
tion for the first rubber, A i6, B lo, C 41, and D 62. 
Calling the low score o, we get: A 6, B o, C 31, and 
D 52, which, added, gives us B's losses at 89. 
The whole result has been calculated in this way: 





A 


B 




c 




D 


I 


-65 




-89 


+ 35 




+ 119 


2 


— 74 


+ 86 






- 10 


— 2 


3 


— 39 


— 


-35 


+ 157 




- 83 


4 


+ no 


+ 78 






-82 


— 106 


5 


— 


+ 64 






-56 


— 8 


6 


+ 79 




- 17 


+ 7 




— 69 


7 


+ 8 




- 8 




-48 


+ 48 


8 


— 47 




-43 


+ 33 




+ 57 




197 225 


228 


192 


232 


196 


224 268 




197 


192 




196 




224 




— 28 


+ 36 




+ 36 




— 44 



If we add the gains on these eight rubbers, they 
show a total of 881, or an average of about no 
to the rubber. As this is only one tenth of the 
number of points, the rubbers must have averaged 
1 100, and if we consider this as divided between 
tv/o winners and two losers, the average points 
won or lost would be about 550, but of course this 
is a very small number upon which to base an 
estimate, and the players were all first class. 



BIDDING TACTICS 

In all games of cards there are certain elemen- 
tary principles or conventions which any one 
who sits down to play in mixed company should 
know. To cut into a rubber without a fair 
knowledge of these conventions would be like 
attempting a fox-trot without knowing any of the 
steps. 

The tactics peculiar to this new form of auction 
have not yet been tried out in practice by a suf- 
ficient number of good players, nor for a long 
enough time, for one to be able to lay down any 
hard and fast rules, but there are certain funda- 
mental principles of bidding and accepting, to 
which may be added some suggestions which are 
clearly advantageous. When we come to the 
play of the cards, the rules which are given in the 
following pages can be followed with confidence, 
as they have been thoroughly tested in both bridge 
and auction. 

It will greatly facilitate the reader*s under- 
standing of the principles of bidding if the actual 
cards shown in the diagrams are laid out before 

34 



PIRATE BRIDGE 35 

him, in order to accustom the eye to the com- 
binations. 

As these pages will probably be read by a num- 
ber of persons who are already familiar with auc- 
tion, it may be well to point out that while the 
object of the bidding in the two games is essen- 
tially the same, the goal is arrived at in a different 
way. 

One great difference between pirate bridge and 
auction is that there is no occasion to jump at the 
chance to bid the full value of your hand at once, 
nor to name an expensive suit with a view to 
shutting out minor or informatory bids by an 
adversary, or to prevent two of them from build- 
ing up a declaration that you cannot afford to 
overcall. This is because in pirate you have no 
cdversary until the bidding is finished. The 
player whom you are trying to shut out may be 
your best friend. 

Another point of difference is that there is no 
hurry about anticipating an adverse declaration 
by indicating a lead, at the risk of being left with 
it and set. Further, there is no need to bid one 
suit in order to deny another, which is one of 
the most embarrassing positions in auction. 
The much disputed point about taking out 
the partner's no-trumpers has no interest 
for the pirate. No such problem ever presents 
itself. 



36 PIRATE BRIDGE 

FREE AND FORCED BIDS 

There is a sharp distinction between what 
are called free bids and forced bids. The free bid 
is one that there is no apparent reason for making, 
unless it is to show something worth while, such 
as two or three sure tricks, or a strong trump 
holding. 

A forced bid is invariably made to overcall a 
previous acceptance, and is one that the player 
must make if he is going to get into the game at 
all, or a bid that he will not have another chance 
to make as cheaply. Those who make these forced 
bids must not be credited with the same strength 
that would be inferred from a free bid of the same 
kind. When once the fight for the final declara- 
tion is started, each player must do the best he 
can with the material in hand, without much 
regard to conventions. 

In order to illustrate the difference between 
the two classes of bids, let us suppose the dealer, 
S, holds five or six spades to the king jack, and 
not more than one outside trick in his hand. He 
is under no obligation to bid a spade. There 
will be ample opportunity for that later. But 
if there is a partnership in hearts already bid 
and accepted against him, he must bid the spade 
or surrender all hope of scoring anything on that 
deal. 



PIRATE BRIDGE 37 

MAJOR AND MINOR SUITS 

One of the first things to learn is the impor- 
tance of distinguishing between original or free 
bids in diamonds or clubs, v/hich are known as 
the "minor" suits, and the same bids in hearts 
or spades, which are called the "major" suits. 

No good player ever bids one trick in a minor 
suit with any intention of playing the hand with 
that suit for the trump. The development may 
be such that he will see it is the best declaration 
for the combined hands, or the only defense against 
strong bidding in other suits, but he never starts 
out with the deliberate intention of working to 
win eleven tricks while there is any chance of 
going game with nine or ten. 

THE MINOR SUITS 

For this reason the minor suits, clubs and dia- 
monds, are never regarded as possible trump 
suits in the original or free bids unless they are 
unusually long. They are looked upon rather 
as trick winners, to assist some better declaration. 
With this principle in mind, good players avoid 
free bids in minor suits that are without the " tops " 
— that is, without two sure tricks. But they will 
bid those two sure tricks without any regard to 
the length of the suit, because length in such a 
case is not a help but a detriment, especially if 



38 PIRATE BRIDGE 

the opponents get the winning declaration with 
a trump suit. 

This is a point that almost every writer on the 
game of auction has failed to see. If you are 
bidding on a suit to show two sure tricks in it, 
the suit not being trumps, but good for two tricks 
with or against any trump declaration, the greater 
the probability that you can win those two 
tricks, the better the bid. This would seem 
to be too obvious to require stating, but many 
of the best players have never stopped to con- 
sider it. 

It is easily proved that if you hold nothing but 
the ace-king and one small club, hearts being 
trumps, your chance to win two tricks in clubs 
are two-and-a-half times better than if you held 
six cards to the ace-king, because in looo deals 
the three-card suit will go round twice 784 times, 
while the six-card suit will do so only 341 times. 
No matter which side is playing the hand, the 
suit is weakened by its length. Either it will not 
win two tricks against the opponents v/ithout the 
risk of their ruffing it, or it will not give your 
partner two safe reentries. The two sure tricks 
need not be both in a minor suit, but that is a 
matter we shall come to presently, in the chapter 
on compensating tricks. The principle to impress 
on the beginner is that he should not bid clubs or 
diamonds originally, as free bids, except to show 



PIRATE BRIDGE 39 

sure tricks. It will be time enough to show length 
in later bids. 

These remarks do not apply to auction, length 
being essential in that game, because the bidder 
may be left in. The bid is perfectly safe in pirate, 
as the player who accepts it does so with the full 
knowledge that the suit may be short. 

THE MAJOR SUITS 

These are sometimes called game-going suits, 
because there is a fair chance of winning the game 
with four odd in hearts or spades, while five odd 
is a difficult proposition. The major suits are 
always bid with the idea that they may be the 
final declaration, as they are in about 12 deals out 
of every 25. As a trump suit should always be 
long enough to give reasonable hope of outlasting 
the opponents, the minimum fixed by convention, 
based on experience, is five cards, or four headed 
by the ace and two picture cards, or four cards, 
all of which are honors. 

High cards, or trick winners, are just as essen- 
tial for the bids in the major suits as in the minor 
suits, because the suit bid may not be the trump 
after all, and the high cards may be what the 
partner is depending on for the defense. The 
conventional standard for a free bid in a major 
suit is three tricks in the hand, at least one of 



40 PIRATE BRIDGE 

them in the suit named, which must have a mini- 
mum length of five cards. 

Five cards in a major suit, even with two high 
cards at the top, is not a sound opening bid unless 
there is at least one trick outside. If there are 
six cards in the suit the extra trump may be as 
good as an outside trick if the suit becomes the 
trump. 

For example: Five hearts to the ace-queen is 
not a sound bid unless there is an outside ace or 
king-queen suit, and a probable trick besides; 
but six hearts to the ace-king is a good bid, even 
if there is not another trick in the hand. 

Original or free bids in a major suit show that 
the player has both length and strength enough 
to play the hand with that suit for the trump. 



THE FOUNDATION 

The first principle of sound bidding is based 
on these two considerations. All minor-suit de- 
clarations show assistance for a better bid, and 
encourage such bids from any player who can use 
those two tricks to support a major suit or no 
trumps. 

All major-suit bids ask for assistance from any 
player who can support the trump with winning 
cards in plain suits, or who can ruff a plain suit, 
on the second round at the furthest. 

Minor-suit bids want a change; major-suit bids 
do not. 

If the original free bids are not sound, no amount 
of bidding afterward will correct the impression 
the first bid has made on the other players. If 
there is no sound free bid in the hand, wait for 
the second roimd. 

SURE TRICKS 

When one speaks of a suit being headed by two 
sure tricks, it is remarkable how few players know 
a sure trick from a probable one. When we say 

41 



42 PIRATE BRIDGE 

a suit is good for two sure tricks we should mean 
that it is good for them in itself, bar trumping, 
no matter who leads that suit. That is the test; 
no matter who leads the suit. 

In spite of the fact that there are only three 
combinations of cards at the head of any suit that 
are good for two sure tricks, regardless of the 
position of the lead, some persons never seem to 
learn them. These are : 

Both ace and king. 

Ace, queen, and jack. 

King, queen, and jack. 
Whether these combinations are led from, led 
up to, or led through, they are always good for 
two tricks if not trumped. But if we examine 
such combinations as the following the two tricks 
are conditional: 

Ace and queen. 

King and queen. 

King, jack, ten. 
To make two tricks with the ace and queen the 
king must be on the right, or in the partner's hand. 
To make two with the king and queen, one of the 
opponents must lead or play the ace, or the part- 
ner must have it. To make two, or even one trick, 
with king-jack-ten, one of the opponents must 
play the ace or queen before any of the three named 
cards has to be put on the trick. If both ace and 
queen are on the left, the combination is not 



PIRATE BRIDGE 43 

worth one trick even. All such combinations 
are bad free bids unless there is something outside 
to compensate for their weakness. 

COMPENSATING TRICKS 

It is not always that a player holds a suit with 
exactly one or other of the three standard two- 
sure- trick combinations at the head of it, A K, 
A Q J, or K Q J, yet there may be two sure 
tricks in the hand. 

If a suit is headed by only one sure trick, such 
as the ace, and the next honor is the queen, or 
jack and ten, we call that a suit with a hole in it. 
The hole in the ace-queen suit is the missing king, 
which may be held by the adversaries. 

If there is a sure trick in some other suit, that 
trick will compensate for the hole in the suit you 
propose to bid. There are then two sure and one 
probable trick in the hand, and it is a legitimate 
conventional bid, provided there is also length if 
it is a major suit. If it is a minor suit, length 
does not matter. 

Let us suppose you hold five spades to the A Q 10 
and the A J of diamonds. There is a hole in the 
spade suit, but the ace of diamonds fills it and the 
queen-ten of spades, with the jack of diamonds, 
should certainly yield the extra probable trick, 
even if spades are not the final declaration. 



44 PIRATE BRIDGE 

If you hold the ace and two small hearts, with 
the A J 10 of clubs, you cannot bid the heart, 
because you have not the requisite length for a 
possible trump suit. * But you do not require 
length in clubs, and the ace of hearts fills up the 
hole in the minor suit, so you can safely bid a club, 
which indicates the two tricks in hand to help a 
better bid. 

NO-TRUMPERS 

This is the favorite bid at auction, and all the 
text-books teach us that it is the declaration at 
which every player should aim, because of the 
high scoring value of the tricks and the small 
number that will win the game. They tell us 
that if the player has anything resembling a no- 
trumper he should bid it at once. In spite of this 
we find that only 7 deals out of every 20 are 
played at no-trump, as against 1 1 in the major 
suits. 

At auction the no-trumper is more or less of a 
gamble, and it would be a much heavier loser 
than it is if it were not for the modern system of 
take-out bids and warnings. It is a well-estab- 
Hshed axiom among good players that "almost 
anything can happen to a no-trumper." A hand 
was published in the N. Y, Sun^ in which one of 
the best players in the Knickerbocker Whist Club 
dealt and bid no-trump on four spades to the 



PIRATE BRIDGE 45 

A K Q, the K Q J 10 of diamonds, Q 10 6 of clubs, 
and K 9 of hearts, and lost a Httle slam. 

This is an extreme case, of course, but every 
player is familiar with the way in which some 
promising no-trumpers will go to pieces. The 
player at auction who bids no-trumps on an aver- 
age hand always hopes his partner will take him 
out with a good major suit, on account of its 
greater safety, and the beginner at auction is 
taught always to take out a no-trumper with any 
five cards in hearts or spades, regardless of the 
rest of the hand. This is entirely unnecessary 
at pirate bridge. There are no take-outs and no 
warnings. 

On account of the risk attached to the original 
no-trump bid at auction, and the danger of finding 
one or the other adversary with a big suit against 
it, three maxims developed. The first was for 
the leader not to bid, no matter what he had, 
short of a sure game hand, but to sit tight and 
beat the declaration. The second was for the 
partner of the no-trumper to be always on the 
alert to warn him of his danger if the second hand 
passed. The third was for the fourth hand to 
ask a lead against the no-trumper if he thought 
that it would save the game to get that suit going 
at once. 

But when we come to pirate bridge these condi- 
tions cannot exist, and it would be well for those 



46 PIRATE BRIDGE 

who are familiar with auction to study the differ- 
ence in the reasons for bidding no-trumps in one 
game as compared with the reasons for it in the 
other. 

After a very Hmited experience with pirate 
bridge I came to the conclusion that original no- 
trump bids, especially when the player is a game 
in, are a mistake, for the following reasons: 

At auction, if you do not bid your no-trump 
at the first opportunity, there may not be a hand 
at the table strong enough to make a bid, and the 
deal will be thrown up. If you bid a minor suit 
and are left with it, you may never get a chance 
to shift to no-trumps, and the hand is wasted on 
a vain attempt to go game in diamonds or clubs, 
when three no-trumps would have been easy. 

In pirate bridge both these are impossible. If 
you pass, some one at the table is sure to bid 
something, just to start things. If you make 
any sort of a bid yourself you cannot be left with 
it, as at auction, for the moment any one accepts 
you, you can bid something else. 

In auction, there is no way to indicate a general 
distribution of strength among three suits except 
the no-trumper. All your partner can do is to 
warn you if he cannot assist you, as he has no 
idea of where your chief strength lies. The bid 
is too vague, and he may frighten you off when 
your hands are actually a perfect fit. 



PIRATE BRIDGE 47 

In pirate bridge the object is to secure the part- 
ner that can exactly fit your hand, and this can 
be done only by giving an accurate description 
of what you hold. There is nothing so indefinite 
as a no-trump bid. Its main strength may be all 
in one suit, or it may be scattered through all 
four. Any one of the suits may be hopelessly 
weak, and the protection in another may be 
doubtful. 

The strongest no-trumpers at pirate bridge are 
those that come late in the bidding, when you are 
sure which player has your weak suit, and know he 
will accept you, or when you can get the dummy oA 
the right side of you to make sure of guarded hon- 
ors, which is one of the fine points of the game. 

In auction, a player frequently bids no-trump 
for the sole purpose of beating another player to 
it, or in order to force either adversary to bid two 
tricks if he wants the play, or to discourage him 
from bidding at all. At least half the no-trump 
bids in modem auction are bluffs. 

This is all nonsense at pirate bridge. In a 
game in which there are no opponents until the 
last acceptance, the player you are trying to head 
off may turn out to be your partner. The one 
whom you wish to discourage from bidding may 
have the very suit that will win the game if you 
would let him show it. 

But as a no-trumper is one of the most interest- 



48 PIRATE BRIDGE 

ing contracts in the game, every pirate bridge 
player should understand exactly the character 
of hand that will, at some stage of the bidding, 
justify him in making such a bid. 

WHAT ARE NO-TRUMPERS ? 

There are abundant opportunities to play no- 
trumpers, provided one does not bid them too 
early. The plan is not to bid them and have 
them overcalled by a suit that the no-trumper 
alone can support, but to let a suit be accepted 
by some other player and then force that suit to 
accept you, either at no-trumps or at an advanced 
bid in the same suit. 

The usual definition of a no-trumper is three 
aces, or their equal, which would be at least one 
sure trick in three different suits. This indicates 
that neither major suit is long enough to bid it, 
and that the hand is too good to risk wasting it 
on a minor suit. 

While one may hold a good many no-trumpers 
in the course of an evening's play, very few of 
them will contain exactly three aces, but under 
the law of compensation we get this simple 
rule: 

An ace-king suit is as good as an ace. Some 
think it better, as both cards may win tricks, 
while an ace can never win more than one. A 
queen- jack-ten suit is as good as a king and queen, 



PIRATE BRIDGE 49 

or an ace, because it will certainly stop the suit 
if it is led, and must be good for a trick on the 
third round no matter who leads it. Like the 
king-queen suit, it may win more than one trick, 
and may be a shade better than an ace, but not 
as good as a king and queen. Contrast these 
two hands: 



^743 


9 743 


i|i A 10 6 4 


4^ KQ64 


A932 


<> Q J 10 2 


4 A 10 


4^ A 10 



B 



The king and queen of clubs in B is just as good 
as the ace in A. The queen jack and ten of dia- 
monds in B are as sure of stopping the suit as the 
ace in A. Therefore the cards in B are just as 
good for a no-trumper as the three aces in A, some 
would prefer B. 

If we pick out the honors in B's hand, we shall 
find he has one of each, A K Q J 10 and a Q 10 
more than his share. Many players judge that 
they have a no-trumper by picking out the honors 
in this manner, and if they have a king, or a queen 
and jack, or queen and ten, more than their share, 
with three suits stopped, they consider it a fair 
no-trumper. 



50 PIRATE BRIDGE 

WHITEHEAD'S RULE 

Many persons like Whitehead's rule, which is to 
call each ace worth 4, well-guarded kings 2, and 
guarded queens i . This gives us 28 for the pack, 
and any player with a hand that counts one more 
than the average, which is 7, has a bid. 

To illustrate: Ace in one suit, king- jack in each 
of two others, counts 8, and is a no-trumper. The 
same count applies to major-suit bids with the 
requisite length, or to any minor-suit bids. Five 
spades to the ace-queen, and an outside ace counts 
9, and is a good bid. 

When the king is with its ace, it counts 4. A 
queen with its king counts 2. The jack and ten 
with any high honor are worth i . Both queen and 
jack with a higher honor are worth 2. That is, a 
suit headed by A Q J is worth 6. 

Very few no-trumpers are good for the contract, 
much less the game, and for that reason they 
require support. In auction, the bidder gambles 
on finding this support in the thirteen cards oppo- 
site him. In pirate bridge he waits until he sees 
where that support lies and then attaches himself 
to it. 

The auction player will often take a chance on 
what are called sporty no-trumpers, one long suit 
with a reentry in another suit, or the ace-king- 
queen of one minor suit and the ace-king of any 



PIRATE BRIDGE 51 

other. The theory is that unless the partner 
opposite has almost a Yarborough he can stop 
whichever suit is opened. 

Such bids are worse than useless at pirate bridge 
and would invariably be passed up. All such 
hands are suit bids, with the prospect of shifting 
to no-trumps later, when the other suits are 
located. 

EQUAL SUITS 

A player will often find himself with two suits 
which are equally good bids, such as five hearts 
and G.ve spades, one headed perhaps by the ace, 
the other, let us say, by king and queen, and it is 
often a great advantage to be able to show them 
both. 

Under the rule that allows a bidder to overcall 
himself after he has been accepted, this is easily 
possible, and it was to allow him this opportunity 
that the rule was made, because even if he is 
accepted by a good partner in the first suit he 
names, he may find a much stronger combination 
in the other suit. 

In auction, the player with two equal suits 
always bids the higher value first, in order to give 
his partner an opportunity to choose between 
the two when the second suit is shown. The 
opportunity to bid the second suit may not arise, 
of course, in pirate bridge any more than it does 



52 PIRATE BRIDGE 

in auction, but the correct suit should be bid 
first in case it does. 

In auction, where one does not wait for an accep- 
tor, suppose S deals and finds in his hand -B.ve 
hearts and five spades. He bids a spade. Some 
one else, E or W, bids two diamonds and then 
S bids two hearts. When it gets to his partner, 
N, that player will say nothing if the hearts suit 
him better than spades; but if he prefers the 
spades he can bid two, which overcalls the two 
hearts and indicates his preference without in- 
creasing the contract. Had S bid the hearts first 
and N preferred the spades, it would not matter; 
but if N wanted the hearts, he would have to 
bid three to overcall two spades. 

The same principle, but not for the same reason, 
applies to the bidding in pirate bridge. The player 
should always bid the higher suit first, as he will 
then be ready to show the supporting suit if he 
gets another bid. With a major and a minor suit, 
this is often very useful, especially if the minor 
suit is a sure trick winner. There is no danger of 
being left with such a contract in pirate bridge, 
as there would be in auction, unless the player 
who accepts it can carry it through to success. 

ONE-TRICK BIDS 

It is highly important that the opening or free 
bids should be strictly conventional, or the result 



PIRATE BRIDGE 53 

may be an acceptance by a partner whose hand 
does not suit the combination at all, while the one 
who could have helped you is arrayed against 
you. 

The bid of one trick in a minor suit shows the 
conventional two-trick hand, and at the same time 
denies any sound declaration in a major suit, 
although the hand may be pretty close to a no- 
trumper. 

The bid of one trick in a major suit shows only 
the average strength for such a declaration, and 
should not be credited for more than five trumps, 
with the usual two sure tricks and a trick outside, 
or one sure in trumps and two outside, although it 
may be very much stronger than that in side cards. 

The importance of restricting this bid to one 
trick is to indicate to any possible acceptor that 
he must have some trumps to help you out. In 
auction, if a player bids a heart and his partner 
has nothing in hearts, he denies the suit by bidding 
something else, even at the risk of being left to 
play it. If the first bid is no-trump and the part- 
ner has nothing to assist a no-trumper he will bid 
any five-card suit, simply as a warning. 

But there is no partner in pirate bridge, so this 
warning never comes. The player sitting oppo- 
site is not compelled to tell you he has nothing to 
help you with in hearts. All he need do is to 
pass, refusing to accept you as a partner in hearts. 



54 PIRATE BRIDGE 

Suppose you bid a spade, no one but the player 
who has several trumps in his hand will accept 
you. If the only player at the table who has three 
or four spades has nothing else, and no singleton, 
so that he could count on a ruff or two, he will 
pass, and you will be able to infer that there is no 
suitable spade combination at the table in that 
deal. This will lead you to wait until you can 
join some player who can use your sure tricks to 
advantage, or perhaps you may be able to bid no- 
trump, after you have heard some of the other 
bids and acceptances. 

A free bid of one no-trump indicates nothing 
but the average three-suit-protected hand, and 
is too vague for practical purposes in pirate bridge, 
so the player must not be disappointed if he finds 
such bids are continually passed up by all the 
other players, chiefly because they want to bid 
a suit, and get your alleged no-trumper for their 
dummy. The original no-trump bidder will then 
be forced to accept the player who is palpably 
aiming at him, and unless he can seize an oppor- 
tunity to overcall some other player, he will prob- 
ably lose a good opportunity of scoring a game by 
playing the hand himself, simply through having 
made a premature bid. This is especially true 
if the one who bids no-trump has a game in, as 
each of the others will be anxious to prevent him 
from winning the rubber. 



PIRATE BRIDGE 55 

TWO-TRICK BIDS 

The player who starts with a free bid of more 
than one trick in a minor suit will very seldom 
find an acceptor, unless the combination is such 
that the game is highly probable. A bid of two 
in clubs or diamonds shows a solid suit, six or 
seven sure tricks, either all in one suit, or with 
an ace in another suit. 

To bid two with a suit that has a hole in it, 
but which can be established in one lead, with 
an ace of another suit for reentry, is not as good 
a bid as two on a solid suit. While such a bid 
may be perfectly correct in showing that if it is 
the trump no assistance in trumps is needed from 
the partner, there is no certainty that it will be the 
trump, and if the final declaration should be 
no-trumps, the reentry suit may be led and the 
outside ace lost before the long suit is cleared. 

Two-trick bids in minor suits should invariably 
be confined to solid suits, or suits with two out- 
side reentries, such as ace and king, if the long 
suit has a hole in it. 

Two-trick bids in major suits may be very long 
suits that are within one of being solid, with an 
outside ace, as it is very improbable that any 
player will want a no-trumper when there is such 
a powerful trump suit in hearts or spades at his 
disposal anywhere round the table. 



56 PIRATE BRIDGE 

Such bids inform the table that if there is any 
player who can win some tricks in other suits, 
the combination should go game easily. If two 
tricks are bid in a minor suit, there will probably 
be no acceptor, but on the next round some player 
with good cards in the other suits will propose no- 
trumps. For this reason two-trick bids in minor 
suits are a mistake unless the player is willing to 
be an acceptor, and does not care to wait for a 
chance to be the bidder on some other player's 
hand, so as to go game himself. It is not uncom- 
mon for a player with one big minor suit to wait 
until a major suit is overcalled and then bid it 
himself if he has three or more little trumps. The 
trouble with all minor-suit bids is that they are 
seldom wanted for the trump unless five odd can 
be made, and there is no game combination in 
either major suit out against it. 

Bids of two or three tricks in a major suit are 
quite another affair. They are an announce- 
ment that the bidder will be responsible for the 
trump situation, and that all he asks from his 
acceptor is three or four tricks in plain suits to 
win the game. 

It was pointed out in connection with one-trick 
bids that the acceptor must have some trumps; 
that he must have such a hand that if he were 
playing auction he would gladly leave you in. 
But when you start with a free bid of two or three 



PIRATE BRIDGE 57 

in a major suit, you must not be surprised if you 
find your acceptor has not a trump in his hand. 
He leaves that part of th'e game to you. All he 
supplies is the outside tricks. Such a bid and 
acceptance effectually puts a stop to any no- 
trumpers, for that deal, because of the length in 
one suit declared against such a contract. 

Three-trick bids show a solid suit and at least 
one sure trick outside. They are the sort of 
hands that are called sporty no-trumpers at auc- 
tion. The distinction between bids of two and 
of three is often important. It is never necessary 
to bid three as a free bid unless you have that 
outside trick, and the consequence of bidding 
three just because you think you can make three 
may be disastrous if you find strong bidding against 
you. 

Let us suppose you start with a bid of three 
hearts, holding six of that suit with the four top 
honors and the ace of clubs. The player on your 
left immediately accepts you, holding nothing 
but three sure tricks in diamonds. If your bid 
is sound, it is a game hand. 

The beginner should be careful not to bid more 
that two tricks when his suit is not solid, and then 
only if he has a sure trick outside, and never to 
bid three when his suit is not solid unless he has 
two tricks outside, and one lead will clear his long 
suit. The acceptor will probably allow for the 



58 PIRATE BRIDGE 

contingency in a two-trick bid that the suit named 
is not soHd. If he has an honor in it himself, 
he will readily read the hand. 

At auction, a bid of two no-trumps indicates 
protection in all four suits, or lOO aces. Such a 
hand should be good for two odd on its own ac- 
count if there are not lOO aces in it. A bid of 
two no-trumps at pirate bridge might be supposed 
to be inducement enough for any one to accept it 
at once, so as to secure the score above the line. 
But the player who accepts such a bid with a 
couple of tricks in hand at once opens the door 
for further bidding, and the first player to bid a 
major suit is sure that no one but the no-trump 
bidder dare accept him, while there is such a 
strong hand against the suit. 

The best chance to score heavily with a hand 
which would be a two-no-trump bid at auction, 
is to bid one trick in a suit, get an acceptor, and 
start the bidding that way. Then pass up every- 
thing until the time is ripe to make a bid that no 
one can overcall, when you know that there is one 
player at least who will surely accept you. 

Many no-trumpers are played at pirate bridge, 
but very few are declared until the last round of 
bids. 



ACCEPTING 

Beginners are apt to be entirely too quick on 
the trigger in accepting a bidder, and do not give 
sufficient consideration to two of the most impor- 
tant things in the game : the strength indicated as 
necessary for the acceptor, and the position of the 
dummy. 

While these two elements are largely interde- 
pendent, one may have the strength regardless of 
the position. The bid indicates that a certain 
amount and kind of support is needed, and the 
value of the cards that propose to furnish this 
support may depend entirely upon the position 
of the dummy. 

The experienced auction player will readily un- 
derstand that while an ace-queen suit may be worth 
two tricks if a finesse is successful, it is a certainty 
for those two tricks, bar trumping, if it is led up as 
fourth hand. The same is true of king-jack-ten. 

This is one of the fine points of the game, and 
in order to illustrate the point, let us look at one 
of the hands played when this game was still in 
the experimental stage. 

59 



6o 



PIRATE BRIDGE 



^ 872 

4^ jg63 
OQ 

4^ KJ842 



^6 


N 




^10 5 3 


♦ A Q 10 4 


W 


E 


* K52 


8643 






AK972 


4^ AQ76 


S 




4^ 10 5 



^ AKQJ94 
4f 87 

J10 5 
^ 93 



S dealt and bid two hearts, indicating that he 
had all the trumps necessary, but not a sure trick 
anywhere else. W accepted, figuring that he had 
enough in the black suits to win the game. 

If the position of the two hands were reversed, 
this would be true, because if the bidder with the 
big trump suit sat on the left of Ws cards he could 
lead through both adversaries and make each of 
dummy's ace-queen suits good for two tricks, 
which wins the game. With dummy on the left 
of the bidder, who has not a plain-suit trick in his 
hand, this is impossible. The consequence was 
that S had to lead through both those black suits, 
or lead away from them, and lost both the queens, 
failing to go game. 

The correct bidding on this hand would be for 



PIRATE BRIDGE 6i 

W to pass, and if either of the others accepted S, 
it would be W's chance to bid spades. If no one 
accepted S, the bid would be void, and W could 
bid one spade. If E accepted S, which is likely, 
W need not be afraid to bid two spades over the 
two hearts. No one will accept him unless that 
one thinks he can make it. N would undoubtedly 
accept, and W's cards are then in an excellent 
position to be led up to. They would lose only 
one trick in each of the plain suits, scoring one 
game toward the rubber for W, and winning 
122 points. With S for a partner, in hearts, all 
that W could get would be i6 and 64 in honors. 

This illustration will probably impress upon the 
beginner the importance of refusing to accept a 
bid when you have a good bid yourself and are 
not afraid of any combination against you. In 
the hand just given, W is not afraid of the heart 
contract, if E accepts it, as N can lead through 
both E and S up to W's powerful hand, and if 
they go to five, W would certainly double. 

This hand is a good example of the manner in 
which the best spade combination will continually 
find itself opposed to the best heart combination, 
or some other suit, or even no-trump. With E 
for a partner, S can make three odd, but no more 
if W opens the spade suit, as N would win the 
second round, or the first, and lead a club upon 
seeing dummy's big diamond suit. 



62 PIRATE BRIDGE 

At auction, S's bid would never have been inter- 
fered with, and he would have played the hand 
with N for his dummy, and found himself unable 
to make more than two odd. The only resource 
for W would have been to bid the spades, only to 
find five trumps over him on the left, if he got 
the contract, and to stop at two by cards. 

WHEN TO ACCEPT 

The best accepting hands are those that give 
no promise of being able to make any good bid 
of their own, but which can contribute several 
tricks to the combination if they pick a good 
partner. If the tricks upon which a player accepts 
are high cards in two or three suits, it may be 
better to wait and bid no-trumps, but when some 
of the probable tricks are to be made by ruffing or 
by getting guarded honors led up to, the acceptance 
is usually the best thing. 

It often happens that a player sits between a 
bid and acceptance, and cannot get in his own bid, 
but if he will have a little patience, the opportunity 
must come for him to declare. 

A player will sometimes have an excellent bid 
himself, yet be forced to accept some other bid 
because he cannot get the desired opportunity to 
get in his own bid. Here is a typical case of that 
kind, in which a player accepts six consecutive 
bids. 



PIRATE BRIDGE 



63 



9QJ3 

4^ AKQ862 
73 
4b 94 



^6 




N 




^ 10 9 5 4 2 


ifll 9743 


W 




E 


* J 10 5 


Q J 10 2 








AK6 


♦ Q 10 7 5 




S 




4^ 83 



9 AK87 

♦ — 

9854 

♦ AK J62 

S dealt and bid a spade, accepted by W. Then 
N bid two clubs, which W also accepted. This 
allowed E to start bidding the heart suit and S 
began to accept. When W shifted to the spades, 
S accepted him, and when N went to no-trumps, 
S accepted that also. W continued to bid spades, 
E hearts, and N no-trumps, S accepting each 
in turn until it got to five hearts over four no- 
trumps, E playing the hand with S for his dummy 
and W to lead. 

It is interesting to observe that either S or W 
could have made three spades, but no more. 
N and W could have made two clubs, but no 
more. N and S can make three no-trumps, 
but no more; but five by cards in hearts is easy 
for E. 



64 PIRATE BRIDGE 

ERRORS IN ACCEPTING 

There are two errors into which the beginner 
is likely to fall in accepting. The first is the temp- 
tation to grab at the strong hand for a partner, 
with the idea of riding to victory on the bidder's 
coat-tails. The other is declining to accept a 
strong partner because that would give the bidder 
the game or rubber. 

When pirate bridge was first played, it was 
found that if a player who was a game in had a 
pretty strong hand, three aces and three kings 
for example, and bid no-trump, no one would 
accept him, as that would give him the game and 
rubber. At first the no-trump hand would accept 
some one else, but players soon saw through the 
conspiracy and the deal was thrown out, as no 
one could accept a bid against such cards with 
any hope of success. 

This looked like a serious defect in the general 
scheme of the game, but it was soon found to be 
a very short-sighted policy to refuse a partnership 
with an unusually strong hand, and players quickly 
reahzed that prompt acceptance is the key to 
success. 

The refusal to accept a partner because it would 
give him the rubber game was an idea carried over 
from auction, which attaches so much importance 
to the rubber that players will risk being penal- 



PIRATE BRIDGE 



65 



ized several hundred points to save it. Pirate 
bridge players soon discovered that this did not 
apply to the new game at all, and that the great 
point was to win double from two other players, 
which would leave a handsome balance of profit 
after paying for the rubber. 

In order to make this matter clear, as it is one 
of the most important considerations in accepting, 
let us suppose the score stands thus: 



N 
122 



E 
68 



36 



S 
82 



40 



W 
104 



E and S have each won a game when S deals 
and bids two no-trumps. All refuse to accept 
him. The bid being void, N bids a spade, but S, 
the only player who could accept, refuses to do so. 
That bid being void, E bids a heart, and again 
the only one who could accept refuses to do so, 
and the deal is thrown out. Here are the hands: 

[The reader may be reminded that while original 
no-trump bids are not recommended, a player hold- 
ing four aces may bid two no-trumps, simply to indi- 
cate the fact, and induce an immediate acceptance.] 



66 



PIRATE BRIDGE 



^ 86 
4^ 76 

<> K10 7 4 
4^ Q J 10 5 2 



C? 973 




N 




9 KQ542 


4i KQ84 


W 




E 


4» 95 


852 




QJ93 


^ K83 




S 




4^ 94 



^ AJIO 
4^ A J 10 3 2 
<> A6 

4^ A76 



Two instructive lessons may be gained from 
this hand. In the first place, after he found his 
own bid was not accepted, S should have accepted 
everything that offered. He can make four odd 
in spades with N for a partner if N plays well. 
But it would be better to take on E, and finish 
the rubber at once, because if N wins this game he 
might win the next with W or E for a partner, 
and S would lose on the result. This quick deci- 
sion of the rubber is always a point to be considered 
by the careful bidder or acceptor. 

E could have made four odd in hearts and five 
honors, without any trouble. This would have 
given E the rubber, and added 172 points to his 
score, while his acceptor, S, would have won 122. 
Balance the score, as the rubber is finished, 



PIRATE BRIDGE 67 

and E wins 5, S wins i, while N and W each 
lose 3. 

But the most interesting part of this hand is 
Ws score. He loses three dollars if S accepts E. 
If anyone accepted S's bid, W might lose much 
more. When S bid two no-trumps, W should 
have accepted at once, and no matter what N or 
E might bid after that, S would have refused both 
of them, as he would be confident of being accepted 
again and again by W, and wants to secure the 
score for 100 aces himself, to say nothing of the 
rubber. 

The beginner will observe that if N's bid is not 
accepted it is void, and under the rules he cannot 
bid again until some other bid is accepted. E's 
heart bid would fall under the same ban, and after 
these two attempts they would have to give it 
up and leave the no-trumper in, as S would never 
have to bid more than two if no other bid is 
accepted. 

S makes four odd at no trump, 100 aces and the 
rubber, adding 240 to his score, and 190 to W's 
score. Now balance the rubber and it will be 
found that instead of losing three dollars, W wins 
three, while N and E are each five minus, S win- 
ning seven. That is to say, W's anxiety to keep 
S from winning the rubber by refusing to accept 
his no-trump bid cost W six dollars. 

It was to make such selfishness unprofitable 



68 PIRATE BRIDGE 

that it was decided, in framing the laws for pirate 
bridge, after due consideration of all the aspects 
of the situation, to make the game worth only 
50 points and add only 50 for the rubber. The 
credit for the most interesting analysis of the 
influence that the game and rubber points would 
have upon the popularity of the game is due to 
Mr. E. T. McLaughlin, a New York lawyer and 
member of the Knickerbocker Whist Club, who 
took a decided interest in pirate bridge from the 
start. 

His point is this: It will readily be seen that if 
a player can win from two others by promptly 
accepting a good partner, he stands to win all 
the trick and honor points, which should be 48 
at least, and he may also win the game points 
if the hand goes game. The only thing that would 
deter him would be the large amount he might 
have to pay if the bidder he accepted won the 
rubber, and the only thing that might make the 
game unpopular, would be the size of the losses of 
the player who was in bad luck and had to pay 
three others such large amounts. 

If we assume that a prompt acceptor helped to 
win even such a small game as four by cards and 
simple honors in hearts, he would get 98 each 
from two players, and all he would lose would be 
the extra 50 rubber points that would go to his 
own partner, still leaving him with a net profit of 



PIRATE BRIDGE 69 

146 for prompt accepting. This should be suffi- 
cient inducement for anyone. 

ACCEPTING MINOR SUITS 

It is an axiom among good players that no one 
wants to play a minor suit for the trump if there 
is a higher declaration between the two hands 
that is equally promising. When this game of 
pirate bridge was young, players were shy of 
accepting minor-suit bids for that reason. 

This is usually a mistake. All bids and also 
all acceptances are for the purpose of giving such 
information as shall lead to the best combination 
of forces in the end. Like good strategy in war, 
the best results are based upon the accuracy of 
this information and the amount of it. 

If S bids a club and no one accepts him, neither 
he nor any other player knows how the club suit 
is distributed, and the assumption would be that 
no one could afford to say hu had more than two 
or three little clubs. Another inference would 
be that the club bidder had a much better declara- 
tion that he was holding back. The last inference 
would be important in case such a declaration 
was made later, especially no-trump. 

If any player has more than his share of clubs, 
say four or five, with one or two honors, and no 
suit that he can bid to advantage later, he should 



70 



PIRATE BRIDGE 



accept the club at once. He is then in a position 
to accept a better bid, as those who have yet to 
speak will know that either of two players can 
protect the club suit, which may be very important. 
The simple rule, therefore, for accepting free 
bids of one trick in a minor suit is that the acceptor 
should have the suit stopped, in case he should 
not be the partner of the first bidder when the 
final declaration is reached. Here is an example 
of how an opportunity was missed by failing to 
observe this rule: 



^AK62 

*8 

A7542 

4^ K]8 




9QJ10 
41» 932 
KQ8 
4^ A932 


N 

W E 

S 


t> 83 

♦ Q J 10 7 
J 10 9 

♦ Q754 


{ 


^9754 
^ AK654 
63 
4^ 10 6 





S dealt and bid a club, and all three passed. 
W then bid a spade, just to start things, and N, 
who had the spades stopped twice, hoped to get 
S for a partner by bidding no-trump, but E ac- 



PIRATE BRIDGE . 71 

cepted, as he could stop the spades. N did not 
like this and took himself out with two diamonds, 
which W accepted, and they made a small slam. 
losing only the first club trick. This cost E 312 
points, as W and N each won 156. 

If E accepts the club bid promptly, and then 
accepts N's no-trumper, N will not be afraid of 
him, as he will trust him to stop the clubs, and 
the diamond suit will never be heard from. It is 
a game hand at no-trump, as all S can win is two 
tricks in clubs, while W wins a spade and a dia- 
mond. This shows that E would have won 80 
from two players, or 160, instead of losing 312, 
a difference of 472. 

The fact that one has a better bid in hand should 
not prevent a prompt acceptance of a bid in a minor 
suit, because when the time comes to make that 
better bid the fact that part of it is based on the 
ability to stop the suit first named may have con- 
siderable weight with the player who is best fitted 
to accept the better bid. 

One frequently finds that an immediate accept- 
ance of one in a minor suit, clubs or diamonds, is 
overcalled by something else and accepted. Now 
the player who was the acceptor of the minor suit 
in the first place can turn round and bid it himself, 
his first acceptance giving the original bidder 
confidence to accept him and stick to him. Here 
is a rather interesting case of this kind. 



72 



PIRATE BRIDGE 



9 854 
4^ J 10 7 4 

4^ K Q J 10 4 3 



A763 




N 




^10 9 2 


til AK952 


W 




E 


* Q86 


K 10 7 6 








5432 


♦ 




S 




^ A62 



^ KQJ 

4^ 3 

AQJ98 

4^ 9875 



S dealt and bid a diamond, which W at once 
accepted. N bid two spades, which S accepted, 
whereupon W bid three diamonds. He could not 
bid no-trump, as the spade suit seemed to be solid 
against him. Then N went to three spades, but 
S declined to accept him, as he correctly inferred 
that W would ruff the spades. 

W made a grand slam in diamonds, which S 
lost the advantage of, so far as going game is 
concerned, by his accepting N's spade bid and 
letting W take up the running on the diamonds. 
If N goes to five spades, E will double and set 
the contract. 

It frequently happens that although the bidder 
has nothing but a one-trick bid, no one can accept 
him. This may be because none of the missing 



PIRATE BRIDGE 73 

honors is sufficiently guarded. A player bidding 
a club with six to the ace-king -ten may find the 
queen with only one guard to it, and unable to 
accept. For this reason if two players pass a one- 
trick bid in a minor suit and the third has four 
small ones, he should accept. Five in suit should 
accept at once in any position. ^ 

A player with only three to a jack should not 
accept unless he has an unusually strong outside 
hand, because in the later bidding he may be 
trusted for the stopper that will not be forthcoming. 
Three to a queen is about the weakest for an accept- 
ance of a one-trick bid, especially in a minor suit. 

ACCEPTING MAJOR SUITS 

As the major suits, hearts and spades, are bid 
in the hope that they will prove to be the final 
declaration and the trump, the acceptor must 
have sufficient strength to support them. Auc- 
tion players will easily recognize the class of hand 
with which they would gladly leave the partner 
in with his heart or spade declaration. But the 
player who begins with pirate bridge, and has not 
had the benefit of training at auction, should be 
cautioned not to accept a major-suit bid of one 
only unless he has at least three sure tricks in his 
hand, with some length in trumps, and not to 
count trumps as tricks unless he can ruff a suit. 
Here is a good example of careful bidding : 



74 



PIRATE BRIDGE 



4 


^ Q J 10 7 2 
4k 975 

k:qj7 




^ AK83 
Jh 83 

A862 
♦ J94 


N 
W E 

S 


^ 64 

4» K:J 10 6 2 

95 

4^ Q863 


{ 
i 


C> 95 
* AQ4 
10 4 3 
i^ A K 10 5 2 





S dealt and bid a spade, which W accepted. He 
has three tricks in plain suits and an honor in 
trumps. N, who can trump spades, bids two 
hearts, and W accepts that also, knowing thatN 
must have a pretty strong side suit, as he cannot 
have sure tricks in hearts. 

When it gets round to E he takes advantage of 
his first chance to bid and says three clubs, which 
S accepts. Now W shows good judgment in 
picking the suit for the trump in which he has the 
smaller cards, keeping the high hearts as sure 
trick winners in a plain suit. He bids three spades, 
which S accepts, and that ends it, N leading a 
club to E's declaration. \ 

Dummy wins with the queen and puts W in 
with a heart to lead the nine of trumps. This 



PIRATE BRIDGE 75 

catches the queen eventually, making five tricks 
in trumps, two in hearts, two in clubs, and the 
diamond; 122 points. E and S could have made 
those three clubs that E bid. N and W could have 
made four hearts, but it looked to W as if he must 
lose two spades and two clubs, which save the game. 
The hand is another good example of the equal 
fighting power of the two major suits, when allowed 
to select the partner best fitted to help the declara- 
tion. Either can go game on the hand. 

ACCEPTING TWO-TRICK BIDS 

Any free bid of two tricks shows that the bidder 
does not need any assistance in that suit, should 
it prove to be the trump, and that he can probably 
run it down at no-trump. Bids of two that over- 
call other bids are often forced, or made to em- 
phasize the holding, such as N's bids in both the 
preceding hands. 

The player who starts with a bid of two tricks 
asks his acceptor to have something in the other 
suits, and it is often a preliminary to accepting a 
no-trumper. As many of these hands go game, 
even in a minor suit, the first player to the left 
who has enough in other suits should accept. 
The acceptance will almost certainly be over- 
called by some player who wants that suit to 
help out a better declaration, and then the accep- 
tor will be in an excellent position to bid his own 



1^ 



PIRATE BRIDGE 



hand. The danger is in accepting when one has 
not the necessary strength, or is not in the position 
for a dummy to get the most out of one*s cards. 
Take this situation: 

^ KQ98 
dIV 85 
10 6 5 2 
♦ KQJ 



^ 54 




N 




^ A J 10 2 


4^ 109 64 ' 


W 




E 


*3 


AQ8 








KJ74 


4 9873 




S 




^ A652 



^ 763 

<|i AKQJ72 

93 

^10 4 

S dealt and bid two clubs. W accepted. This 
is not a legitimate acceptance, because W's cards 
are on the wrong side of the declaration to be good 
for more than one sure trick. When N passed, 
E bid two no-trumps. S accepted and W then 
bid three spades, which N accepted, but when E 
went to three no-trumps, accepted by S, it went 
to N, who doubled. 

N argues that if W had two sure tricks when he 
accepted the original two-club bid, he either holds 
ace of spades and clubs, or two top clubs. Had 
N been right about this, his double would have 



PIRATE BRIDGE 77 

won points. But W's acceptance is unsound, and 
we shall see that the consequences of an unsound 
acceptance may be even more serious than an 
unsound bid. 

W led the spade and E won the trick. Six 
club tricks follow, on which E discards three 
hearts and two spades. Then a diamond from 
dummy and N makes two spades, after W puts 
on the ace of diamonds second hand. The stu- 
dent will observe that N dare not discard his 
high spades while dummy has the ten. When N 
puts E in with a heart, expecting W to win an- 
other diamond, the game is lost, as E has the king 
of diamonds. 

When a player makes a free bid of two in a major 
suit, hearts or spades, or bids more than necessary 
to overcall the previous acceptance, such as three 
spades over two hearts, the best acceptor is the 
one with a long suit that can be established in 
one lead, with a reentry, if he is not fortunate 
enough to have a solid suit. 

Scattered strength is not what is wanted when 
all the trumps are in one hand, because there is 
usually nothing in the bidder's hand but the 
trumps, and what he wants is discards. The 
exception would be if the player sat on the right 
of the bidder and had tenaces or guarded kings 
to be led up to, but someone else would probably 
accept before it got round to him. These tenace 



78 



PIRATE BRIDGE 



suits and guarded kings were always more or less 
of a gamble at auction, but in pirate bridge they 
are either a certainty on the right, or very weak 
on the left of the declarer. Look at this hand : 





9 10 9 4 






4l 10 9 4 






<> Q63 
^ KQ95 




9 85 


N 


^63 


4^ AQ52 

K852 


W E 


4» KJ83 
<> AJIO 


♦ AJ6 


S 


♦ 108 4_3 




^ AKQJ7 
4* 76 


2 




974 






♦ 72 





S dealt and bid two hearts, which W accepted. 
If S*s bid is conventional he has nothing but the 
trumps, and W's cards are in a very bad position 
to win more than two sure tricks, which will 
leave it to S to win eight if they are to go game 
in hearts. E bid no-trumps, but S refused to 
accept him, as he wanted to score his 64 in honors. 
It would have been set if W opened the other 
major suit. 

Owing to the position of the dummy, S could 
not win the game in hearts. E was the proper 



PIRATE BRIDGE 79 

player to accept as he was on the right side of 
the declarer to make his minor honors. A good 
player in E's position would have overcalled W's 
acceptance with a bid of three hearts, and S would 
have accepted E's bid as a warning that W was 
not as good a partner as E. E can make the 
game in hearts, even if W opens with a trump, 
because S can lead a club before exhausting the 
trumps. If W passes up the club, E will lead a 
trump. 

It does not matter whether S plays the hand 
with E as acceptor, or E plays it with S for the 
dummy. The point is the position of the ace-jack 
and king- jack suits with regard to the strong 
trump hand. 



DELAYED BIDS 



It not infrequently happens that a player has 
a good bid, but that his position is such, between 
the bidder and acceptor on another declaration, 
that he cannot get it in. This is part of the luck 
of the game, but it is sometimes rather trying to 
the patience. Here is a hand in which the player 
sitting E was compelled to pass five times, although 
he was willing to bid four in hearts. The curious 
part of it is that he could have made four, and 
ran the risk of being set by bidding five, only to 
be overcalled in the end with five no-trumps. 



1 


^ AK4 
^ KQ52 
98 

♦ Q J 10 5 




4^ 10 6 4 3 

QJ76 
4^ 9862 


N 

W E 

S 


^ 10 9 8 5 3 

^ 98 

52 

4^ AK73 




^ J762 

* AJ7 

AK10 43 

80 





PIRATE BRIDGE 8i 

S dealt and started with a diamond, accepted 
by W and overcalled by N with no-trump. This 
E passed, and he had to pass again and again 
while W continued to bid diamonds, accepted by 
S, and N continued to over call the acceptance 
with no-trumps, also accepted by S, until W got 
tired and refused to go to four diamonds over 
three no-trumps, so E finally got in a bid of four 
hearts, which N accepted, S returning to no- 
trump and carrying it to five, which he made. 



REFUSING TO ACCEPT 

There is a great difference between a bid that 
is delayed for want of an opportunity to make it, 
and delaying a bid until some other player has 
accepted a bid that you might have accepted 
yourself. 

While, as already pointed out, there is no great 
difference between being the bidder and the 
acceptor, so far as the score goes, there is always 
the risk that you will be neither if you are not 
quite sure of your ground. 

Auction players are so accustomed to attaching 
the greatest importance to winning or saving the 
rubber, which makes a difference of 500 points 
in that game, that they usually fall into the error 
of devoting too much attention to the same object 
when they first take up pirate bridge. 

In auction, the rubber is worth 250 to each of 
your opponents, but you lose to one only, which 
costs you 250. If you save it, you still have a 
chance to win that 250, because it does not matter 
whether you or your partner has the hand. 

In pirate bridge these conditions do not exist. 
£2 



PIRATE BRIDGE 83 

The rubber is worth only 150 to the winner, as he 
gets 50 from three players, and he may be your 
partner and add some hundred or more points 
to your score, out of which you can well afford to 
pay your 50. But instead of having an even 
chance to win the rubber eventually yourself, 
as at auction, it is 3 to i against you, because 
only one of the four at the table can win it, and 
three others are striving against you for the 
privilege. If the others are a game in and you 
are not, it is 9 to i against you, or even more. 

If you can get for a partner the player that you 
are afraid will win the rubber, and he does win it, 
you are in a much better position than if you were 
finally compelled to allow some other player to 
win it who did not want you for a partner, or 
found the bidder you refused picked up by some 
one else, leaving you to pay them both, instead 
of collecting from two players yourself. 

Let us suppose that N and S are each a game 
in and that S eventually bids no-trump. The 
only player that can accept him is N, but he re- 
fuses to do so because S will win the game and 
rubber if he plays the hand. If no one accepts 
S's bid, it is void, and N can then bid no-trumps 
himself, get an acceptor, and win the rubber. 

This sounds well, but the premises upon which 
such a proceeding is based are absolutely false. 
In the first place, who will accept N's no-trumper 



84 PIRATE BRIDGE 

if neither E nor W were able to accept S's? S 
certainly will not, as he will at once see through 
the scheme and force N to walk the plank. 

Apart from the unimportant difference it makes 
in the score who wins the rubber, provided you 
are one of the partners, there is another element. 
If the bid is accepted, it will certainly not be left 
at one no-trump. Either E or W will inevitably 
call a five-card suit of some kind, hoping to secure 
for a partner whichever of the no-trump hands 
can best support that suit as a trump suit. Then 
the fight will probably develop between two-suit 
bids, the no-trumper being completely forgotten, 
and N having just as good a chance to secure the 
declaration or acceptance as S. 

This shows that so far from running any risk 
in accepting S's no-trump bid, N would simply 
be getting things started. If they do not start, 
N adds a comfortable number of points to his 
score, even if he does not win the rubber himself. 
By accepting S's no-trump bid promptly, N shows 
both E and W that, if they have anything to 
declare, S is not the only pebble on the beach, 
and N is just as well able to help them along as 
S would be. 

Here is one of the hands that came up when we 
were experimenting with this game. N and S 
had each a game in. E and W had not. The 
weakness of original no-trump bids had not then 



PIRATE BRIDGE 



85 



been discovered, so that S's opening declaration 
is not a good one. 





^ AK72 
* J6 
A J 10 5 
4^ A83 




96 

Jh 10854 
Q74 
♦ QJ654 


N 

W E 

S 


9 J 10 9 4 3 
4i Q92 
9632 

♦ 9. 




9 Q85 
4t AK73 

K8 

4 K10 7 2 





S dealt and bid no-trump. When W passed, 
N also passed, so as to prevent S from winning 
the rubber. When E passed, S's bid was void. 
W bid a spade, both N and S refusing to accept 
it, as that would give W a game and put him on 
an equality with them for the rubber. W's bid 
being void, N bid no-trump, and of course no one 
would accept him. E saw that neither of them 
would accept anything, so he said nothing about 
the hearts, and the deal was thrown up, as S 
cannot bid again unless some bid has been accepted 
after his was refused. 

On the next deal, as it happened, W made four 



86 PIRATE BRIDGE 

by cards in hearts with simple honors, with E for 
a partner, scoring 98 each. On the following 
deal, W made four by cards at no-trump and 30 
aces, again finding an acceptor in E and scoring 
170 for himself, 120 for E. This meant 486 points 
that N and S each had to pay, all because each 
was afraid the other would win the rubber. 

Had N accepted S's no-trump bid on the hand 
just given, E would have bid two hearts, and no 
matter which accepted it, S or N, there would 
have been a two-spade bid from W. On ac- 
count of his advantage in holding the ace of 
spades, N would prefer the hearts and would 
accept up to four. As the cards lie, E could have 
made four hearts, but W and S cannot make more 
than three in spades, as they must lose one trick 
in each of the four suits. This shows that N 
could have saved 228 points by accepting S's bid 
and then accepting E, even if W won the rubber 
in the next two deals. 

An interesting feature of this hand is that if 
S is too anxious to shut out N, and accepts the 
heart bid, W at once bids the spades, and as that 
suits S better he would probably accept that, 
whereupon it would be open to N to bid the hearts, 
get E for an acceptor, and win the rubber. S and 
E could not make more than three in hearts, 
probably only two if N played well. 

This scheming to be the declarer and not the 



PIRATE BRIDGE 



87 



acceptor is one of the fine points of the game, and 
while it undoubtedly leads to some interesting 
and exciting situations, it can be touched upon 
only lightly in a book which is written professedly 
for the beginner, but one example of this part of 
tactics may not be amiss. N and S were each a 
game in. 

^ A Q 109 6 2 
^ J 10 8 5 3 
94 
* — 



^ 8743 




N 




9 


4t AK76 


w 




E 


* Q942 


03 








AKQ865 


4^ J 10 6 2 




s 




4^ 953 



^KJ5 

* — 

J 10 7 2 
4^ AKQ874 



S dealt and bid two spades, accepted by W, 
and N bid three hearts. S could have accepted 
this, but that would allow N to play the hand and 
win the rubber. W accepted the three hearts, 
and then E bid four diamonds. S could have 
accepted this, but his plan is to play the hand him- 
self and win the rubber. The reader must re- 
member that S can always make another bid, no 



88 PIRATE BRIDGE 

matter what happens, as long as three players do 
not pass an acceptance. 

No one will accept E on the diamonds, and the 
bid returns automatically to three hearts, accepted 
by W, and it is S's turn. He bids three spades, 
which W accepts, and N bids four hearts, W accept- 
ing everything. 

Now S sees that if he goes any further with the 
spades, W may refuse to accept, so he keeps the 
bidding open by offering five diamonds, knowing 
that E will jump at it. But the unexpected part 
of it was that when W went to five hearts and N 
accepted, E bid six diamonds, so as to prevent 
either N or S from winning the rubber. S ac- 
cepted, and E made a grand slam by trumping 
the first heart, ruffing out the spade suit on the 
fourth round, after exhausting N's trumps, and 
discarding two clubs after S had trumped two of 
that suit. A spade opening would have saved 
one trick, but the contract would still have been 
safe. 



REBIDDING THE HAND 

After having made a bid and found an acceptor, 
the declaration is almost invariably overcalled, 
either by some player who wishes to break up the 
partnership and get the stronger half of it for 
himself, or by the player that has the other suit 
and does not care who accepts him. This brings 
up the question of increasing the first bid if the 
higher bid is accepted. 

As a rule, it is not only better but safer, instead 
of bidding the same suit again, to bid the support- 
ing suit if it is worth showing, even at the risk of 
being eventually forced to accept your first suit 
instead of playing it with an acceptor. 

There is absolutely no risk in bidding the second 
suit, because no one will accept it unless it is 
unusually promising, but it gives the players a 
better line on the hand, and they can judge much 
better of your value as a partner. Several of 
the hands illustrated in this book show this fea- 
ture in the second round of bids. In auction, to 
rebid the hand with a minor suit after having 
shown a major suit, indicates stronger trick-taking 
possibilities in the second suit than in the first. 



90 



PIRATE BRIDGE 



In pirate bridge this is not the case; in fact, the 
conditions may be just reversed, but the oppor- 
tunity to show one sure trick, or a possible two, 
may be valuable. 

When the full strength of the hand has not been 
indicated by the first bid, there should be no hesita- 
tion about bidding the same suit again if you have 
found an acceptor on the first bid. This has the 
advantage of keeping the privilege of being the 
declarer in your own hand. It is usually when 
your first bid is not accepted, or your acceptor 
drops you on the second round, that you should 
brace him up a bit by calling your supporting 
suit. If he does not want you, some one else may. 

Here is an example of good rebidding by one 
player and very bad rebidding by another : 





V Q 

* 10 9 2 
109 32 

♦ KQJ82 




^ J9653 

*5 

<> KQJ7 

4^ 10 6 5 


N 

W E 

S 


9 72 
«^ AJ873 
85 
4^ A973 




^ A K 10 8 ^ 
♦ KQ64 
A64 


t 



PIRATE BRIDGE 91 

S bid a heart, accepted by W, and N bid a 
spade, accepted by E. Now S rebids his hand, 
two hearts, as he wants to play it and he has much 
more than the average heart strength. It would 
be a no-trumper but for the spades. W accepts 
again, showing that he has probably more than 
an average accepting hand. N bid two spades. 

This is distinctly a bad bid. He has not the 
strength to justify rebidding the suit and should 
have declared the diamonds. E accepted, which 
is also bad bidding, as he has nothing unusual, 
and cannot trump anything until the third round. 
His ace- jack suit is on the wrong side of his partner 
to be of any value. 

S went on to three hearts, W still accepting, 
and N stuck to the spades, E accepting. S 
doubled the three spades, feeling sure that W was 
assisting on diamond strength. This is a bad 
double, because it allows W to seize the opportu- 
nity to take up the bidding on hearts, and S has 
to accept him. 

Had the double been allowed to stand, N would 
have been set for two tricks, less 36 in honors, 
which would have given S 328 points, as he would 
win 164 from both N and E; but the little slam 
that W made in hearts netted that player 360 
and gave him a game toward the rubber. 



SECONDARY BIDS 

Enough has probably been shown in the pre- 
ceding hands of how the bidding is Hkely to go 
after the first round to indicate to the reader 
that most of it depends on observation and infer- 
ence. One must watch carefully the bids made 
by others, and consider the probable location of 
the dummy with regard to the declarer. 

There is one point to which attention should be 
particularly directed in connection with secondary 
bids, and that is accepting a player who bids a 
suit, gets an acceptor and immediately goes to 
no-trumps. The inference is that the suit which 
he declared in the first place was his weakness, not 
his strength, and that he was feeling out its dis- 
tribution before risking a no-trumper. Such bids 
are called, "one- try" no-trumpers. 

Another time a player may bid two suits, find 
acceptors for each, and then go to no-trumps; or 
he may bid one, get an acceptor, and hear from the 
other by a bid made by some other player, and go 
no-trumps. These are called, *' two-try" no- 
trumpers. The final no-trump bid shows that the 
position of the acceptors is satisfactory. If both 
suits are bid by the prospective no-trumper and 
both acceptances are made by the same player, 

92 



PIRATE BRIDGE 



93 



the rest is easy, but if they are accepted by differ- 
ent players, the position of the no-trumper with 
regard to each may be important. 

As one-try no-trumpers are almost invariably 
made by bidding a suit in which the proposed no- 
trumper has little or nothing, players must be 
alert to overcall the acceptor if they also have 
tricks in the suit. This is a very important point 
in secondary bids, as it must be clear to any person 
of average intelligence that if one player has 
strength enough to accept, and another player has 
the high cards to accept if the first one did not, 
that the original bidder cannot have anything in 
the way of winning cards in that suit, and the bid 
is a palpable one-try for a no-trumper. Here is 
a good illustration of the situation: 



( 


^ 109 83 
4i Q87 

KJ82 
4^ 98 




^ Q4 
4k K52 
975 
4^ A 10 7 5 2 


N 

W E 

S 


9 J652 
4k 94 
A Q 10 3 
4b 643 




^ AK7 
4k A J 10 6 3 

64 

4^ KQJ 





94 



PIRATE BRIDGE 



S dealt and bid a diamond. W passed and N 
accepted. E at once recognized this as a one- try 
no-trumper, and in order to be in on it himself he 
overcalled with two diamonds. As S would not 
accept, no one else dare do so, knowing the nature 
of S's hand, so that bid was void. Then S bid 
no-trumps, and E accepted, as N did not dare to do 
so. W could not find an acceptor for the spades. 
Of course S and E go game at no-trumps. 

Here is a two-try no-trumper, the second bid 
being accepted by a different player from the 
first: 





9 K J 10 2 
* J3 

10 6 3 
4^ KJ62 




9 843 
^ KQ642 
95 
4^ A95 


N 

W E 

S 


9 965 
4» 10 5 
AQ72 
^ Q873 




9 AQ7 
4li A987 
KJ84 
4^ 10 4 





S deals and bids a diamond, which E accepts. 
Now two clubs, which W accepts, N and E passing. 
As neither of these mentions the spades, S assumes 



PIRATE BRIDGE 95 

that suit is split up, and he bids two no-trumps, 
accepted by W. This is the better position for the 
acceptor, as S can get a lead through E's diamonds 
and up to his own tenace in hearts. Observe that 
if the diamonds were with W and the clubs with 
E, a no-trumper might not work so well. 

As will be seen, it does not matter what Y leads, 
provided S takes full advantage of the position 
and leads diamonds from W's hand immediately. 
The harder opening from N's hand to meet would 
be the spade. W wins and leads a diamond. If 
E puts on the ace and leads a spade, three spade 
tricks do not save the game. If E leads a heart, 
instead of a spade, S must put up the ace and make 
two diamonds instead of two hearts. 

If N opens with a heart, the game is easy for S, 
as the queen wins the first trick, dummy gets in 
with a club and leads a diamond. If E passes this 
up, the one diamond trick is all S wants, as the 
five clubs are good any time. 

As will be seen in the chapter on doubling, fur- 
ther on, a player may indicate that the wrong hand 
has accepted by doubling the acceptance, which 
allows the no-trump hand to bid it at once, without 
waiting for any acceptance of a two-trick bid. In 
the first of the two hands just given, for instance, 
E might have doubled N's acceptance. 

It has been found that good players can count 
up their losing tricks with remarkable accuracy, 



96 



PIRATE BRIDGE 



and can locate the hand that is likely to trump a 
given suit. Some players are very good at judg- 
ing upon what cards or which suit an acceptor is 
counting for tricks, even if neither of the minor 
suits have been named. 

This is matter of practice and experience. The 
beginner will make a good many mistakes at first, 
of course, especially if he does not pay close atten- 
tion to the difference between original or free bids 
and those that are probably forced. Here is an 
example of this error, due more to thoughtless- 
ness than anything else: 

^ Q10 9 2 

4i AQ5 

93 

4 K 10 5 3 



^ A73 
Jh KJ764 
82 
4^ A87 




N 

W E 

S 


^4 

4ii 982 

AQ65 
♦ QJ964 




* 



4^ 


K J865 
10 3 

K J 10 7 4 
2 





S dealt and passed, having no sure tricks in 
any suit for an original bid. When W passed, 
N bid no-trump, accepted by E. Now S bids 
two hearts, so as to get the no-trumper that is 



PIRATE BRIDGE 97 

best in that suit to accept him. W passes and 
N accepts. Now E bids two spades, which N 
also accepts. This induces S to try the other 
suit, bidding three diamonds, which E accepts. 

All this time W has passed, but with his 
strength in the black suits and S bidding both 
the red suits, he argued that the combination 
should be a good no-trumper, in spite of the 
original bid and acceptance of N and E, so he 
bid three no-trumps. 

N passed because he was afraid of the diamonds, 
and E passed because he was afraid of the hearts. 
S accepted, thinking W must have the clubs and 
a stopper in spades. The contract was set for 
four tricks. N led the king of his partner's 
declared suit, spades, and W could not drop the 
hearts, losing four spades, two clubs, a heart, and 
a diamond. 

Ws inferences were correct so far as S's suits 
were concerned, but he overlooked the fact that 
both were secondary bids, and made after S had 
a chance to make a free bid, so they must be with- 
out the tops, or sure tricks, that a free bid would 
have indicated. 

S's bids are aimed at N on the hearts and at E 
on the diamonds. N has shown both hearts and 
spades and must have something in clubs to justify 
his bidding no-trumps. S can make four or five 
by cards at hearts with N for a partner. They 



98 PIRATE BRIDGE 

could even go game at no-trump, if W opened a 
small club and the ten won the first trick, as N 
must get in to lead the diamond through E's 
acceptance of that suit. 



POSITION IN BIDDING 

One of the most attractive features of pirate 
bridge is the exercise of judgment in counting up 
the number of tricks that you can contribute as 
your share of the contract when you accept, or 
when you bid with a definite acceptor in view. 
The value of your cards will vary with your posi- 
tion with regard to the partner who wants you, 
or the partner you want yourself. If you have 
both ace and king of two suits, they are probably 
worth just as much in one place as another, but 
there are other combinations that are greatly 
affected by their position. 

If the bidder and acceptor sit opposite each 
other, all ace-queen suits, or king-jack suits, or 
guarded kings are simply a gamble. Anything 
but an ace can be led through and killed. 

But if the player who holds such combinations 
sits on his partner's right they become absolutely 
certain tricks, because the partner can lead through 
both adversaries, and the player with the ace- 
queen suit has the drop. A king led up to in fourth 
hand in this way must win the second round at 

99 



100 PIRATE BRIDGE 

the latest. A king-jack suit must be good for 
two tricks, if it can be led up to twice, no matter 
who holds the ace and queen. The only risk is 
that the adversaries will lead through before the 
partner can get in to lead up. 

If such combinations as these are on the left 
of the partner, nothing but aces are sure tricks, 
as one or both adversaries must play after that 
hand. This shows that one of the fine points of 
the game lies in securing the position that will give 
your secondary cards their greatest trick- taking 
power, and when you hold tenaces, or guarded 
honors, the great thing is to be on your partner's 
right hand. You do not care which of you is the 
dummy, so that the lead can come from the left 
through both adversaries. 

It is probably hardly necessary to point out to 
the experienced player that there must be a 
strong probability, if not a certainty, that the part- 
ner can get in often enough to make these leads. 

While this part of the game may seem a little 
too deep for the beginner, as it involves the nicest 
calculations as to avoiding the partner that is not 
in the right position, and angling for one and one 
only (the one to your left), it may be interesting 
to give an example of how this part of the bidding 
tactics is carried out in practice. The following 
deal decided a rather important rubber, S having 
won the first game with a grand slam at no-trumps. 



PIRATE BRIDGE 



lOI 



( 


^C? K J 10 9 5 
*Q95 
0Q7 
4^ 943 




^ 873 
4i A864 
983 
4 A85 


N 

W E 

S 


^6 

4^ 10 3 

A J106 4 2 

4b KJ102 


1 


^ AQ42 
^ KJ72 
K5 
4^ Q76 





Knowing the weakness of starting with a no- 
trump bid when the player is already a game in, 
S passed. W also passed and N bid a heart, 
which S accepted. W passed again, and E bid 
two diamonds, accepted by W. 

Now when N bids two hearts, S refuses to accept, 
as he sees a better declaration ahead. This refusal 
to accept him the second time appears quite reason- 
able to N, as S apparently had not a bid on his 
own deal. No one accepting the two-heart bid, 
it is void, and returns to two diamonds by E 
accepted by W, with E having the privilege of 
bidding something else if he wishes to. He bid 
two spades, S passing and W accepting. When 
N and E both passed, S bid two no-trumps. 

In order to appreciate S's bidding, the reader 



102 PIRATE BRIDGE 

must remember that a bidder can always shift, 
even if he is accepted, although his acceptor 
cannot. S is fishing for an acceptance from W, 
with E as second choice, as E has shown two 
strong suits. The partner S does not want is N, 
and if W passes and N accepts, S is ready to return 
at once to the hearts, because with N for a partner 
at no-trumps, there is only one sure trick in S's 
hand; with W for a partner there are four or 
five. 

W did accept, and the play shows the immense 
advantage of position to hands of this character. 
N led the queen of E's declared suit, diamonds, 
and E led a second round, estabHshing four cards 
in his own hand, with all those spades for reentry. 

On winning the second trick with the king of 
diamonds, S put dummy in with the ace of clubs 
and came back with a small one, winning the trick 
with the jack. The king of clubs dropped the 
queen, E discarding a spade. Then the eight of 
clubs won the seven, N discarding a spade and E 
a diamond. Dummy now leads a small heart 
and S wins with the queen. 

The contract is now safe, but he wants the 
game and rubber, so he leads the ace of hearts and 
E sheds another diamond. This makes it easy 
to count the hands. N has three hearts left. 
E has either one diamond and four spades, or all 
the diamonds and only three spades. The fine 



PIRATE BRIDGE 103 

point of the calculation is that if N has a diamond 
to lead the game is impossible, as three hearts 
and a diamond save it. S leads the heart. That 
is the only chance to make two spades, and they 
win the game and rubber, after N has made his 
three hearts. 

It is interesting to note that had N accepted S 
at no-trumps and been left with it, they would 
have been set for two tricks, as all S could make 
would be the king of diamonds and his five hearts. 
If he tried any other lead, he would be set for four 
tricks, as all the diamonds and four spades would 
make against him. 



DOUBLING 

There is probably no part of the game of auc- 
tion that has cost the average or mediocre player 
so much money as doubling. One continually 
sees declarations win the game or rubber that 
would have been impossible without the double, 
and the biggest losses on record are always due to 
injudicious doubling or redoubling. The double 
is largely a gamble, and as such has no place in a 
supposedly intellectual game. 

There are three classes of doubles recognized 

by good players. The sure double, when the 

opponent's contract is impossible, no matter how 

the cards lie. The free double, when the contract 

will go game whether it is doubled or not. The 

conventional double, to show control of a suit bid 

by an opponent. In addition to these there are 

to-day in use at auction certain doubles that show 

you have nothing in the suit you double, or that 

you have a no-trumper but do not want to play 

it. These are more or less in the class of private 

conventions. 

In pirate bridge, there is only one double that 
104 



PIRATE BRIDGE 105 

is of much use, and that is the double indicating 
that the wrong player has accepted. The so-called 
free double, which is a gamble on the contract 
not going game when it must do so to succeed, has 
no place in a game in which contracts are based on 
such a sure foundation as they are in pirate bridge. 

The player who makes a free double in this game 
and finds he is mistaken will have to pay pretty 
heavily for his venture, even if he is not redoubled. 
Suppose he doubles four spades and the declarer 
just makes it. This will cost the doubler 344 
points. If the declarer should happen to make an 
extra trick, it would cost 460, in addition to the 
honors as held. 

To double simply because you think you can de- 
feat the contract, would indicate that in your opin- 
ion the bidder has picked the wrong partner, and 
that you are strong enough to beat the combina- 
tion. But if you are strong enough to beat two 
players, you should surely be strong enough to 
take the stronger of the two as your partner and 
beat the other. The double that invites this shift 
of partners is a good one. 

So many hands are worth much more than they 
have to bid to get the contract that doubling is a 
very dangerous experiment unless it is a certainty. 
Some astonishing things happen at pirate bridge. 
Take this hand, in which E had what he considered 
a free double, if not a certainty. 



io6 



PIRATE BRIDGE 



^ KQJ762 
4^ J 10 7 4 3 
<> 76 
♦ — 



^ — 




N 




9 A83 


4^ 98652 


W 




E 


^ AKQ 


Q 108543 








KJ2 


4k 854 




S 




4^ K10 9 6 



^ 10 9 54 
* — 

AQ9 

4^ AQJ732 

S bid two spades, which W accepted. N bid 
three hearts, which E accepted. This continued 
until it got to four spades, when N stopped and 
E doubled. N led a heart and W trumped it, 
leading a small diamond, won by the ace over 
E's king. Dummy trumped another heart and 
led another diamond, the queen winning the jack. 
The third heart dummy trumped and led a club, 
which S trumped. 

Now S has to lead the nine of diamonds, and 
overtake it with dummy's ten. N cannot trump 
it, as he has no trumps, so the ten holds, and W 
leads the eight of diamonds. This E trumped 
and S over- trumped, leading the trump, so that 
E made the king and ten. This left S one more 
than his contract, doubled. That is, 90 below 



PIRATE BRIDGE 107 

the line, 18 for honors, 50 for game, and 100 for 
the contract and a trick over; total, 258, which E 
had to pay double, so it cost him 516. 

It is perhaps hardly necessary to point out to 
the reader who has followed me thus far that the 
moment N stopped bidding the hearts, E should 
have bid five spades, overcalling W's acceptance 
of four. This would have netted him a grand 
slam in spades, with five honors, so that he would 
have won exactly the 516 points that he lost by 
doubling, and been a game in toward the rubber 
besides. It is a small slam in hearts for N and 
E if N will keep on — another instance of the two 
best combinations getting together. 

If the player who is tempted to double says 
nothing, and it turns out that he can set the con- 
tract for even one trick, he gets 100 for it, as he 
wins 50 from two players. If he had doubled he 
would have got 100 more, but in order to get that 
100 he risks an3rwhere from 344 to 600. 

A very useful double at auction was when the 
second player overcalled a no-trumper with a 
long suit, and the third hand held two sure stop- 
pers in that suit. The third hand doubled. The 
idea was to encourage the partner to go on with 
his no-trumper, if he really had one to start with, 
and also to prevent the success of a maneuver 
called "the shift." 

There is no such situation possible in pirate 



io8 PIRATE BRIDGE 

bridge. The no-trumper must be accepted before 
any one can bid a suit, and the suit must be 
accepted before it can be doubled. It is difficult 
to imagine such a bid being accepted against a 
no-trumper, when the one who is still the no- 
trumper' s partner (by elimination) has two sure 
stoppers in that suit; but that is not the point. 

When a no-trumper is accepted, the suit is not 
bid against it, as at auction, but is declared in the 
hope that the no-trump hand will accept it. If 
this happens, what does the player with the two 
stoppers hope to accomplish by doubling? 

In all my experience of the game I have never 
seen a good double. In every case the doubler 
should have played the hand, or should have been 
the acceptor, at an early stage of the bidding, of 
the one that did play it. 



TAKING STINGS 

There is one element of the bidding that will 
probably not be thoroughly understood until we 
have had at least a year's experience with pirate 
bridge, and that is the advisabiHty of taking stings 
in order to prevent an opponent from scoring over 
you, or to save the game or rubber. 

Auction players have arrived at a fixed valua- 
tion for a lost game, which they consider worth 
about 200 points, while the rubber game is worth 
about 300. Many players consider it a good in- 
vestment to sacrifice these amounts in penalties, 
in order to save one or the other; the game, or 
both game and rubber. This they accomplish by 
overbidding their hands and assuming a contract 
that they know is hopeless. They are banking 
on the chance of winning the game or rubber 
themselves later. That the game they are looking 
forward to might help them to win the next rub- 
ber does not seem to occur to them. Neither 
have they any clear idea of the odds in favor of 
their losing their penalties and the rubber as 
weU. 

109 



no PIRATE BRIDGE 

In pirate bridge, while there is no such value 
attached to the rubber as the 250 points at auc- 
tion, the loser has to pay double, so that if he is 
not one of the partners to win the rubber game 
he will have to pay one man 50 and the other 100. 
If it is not the rubber game, he may have to pay 
for three by cards at no-trump and 30 aces, with 
50 for game, and to pay it to two different players, 
so that it will cost him 220. If he was doubled 
and set two tricks in his efforts to escape this, he 
would have to pay 200 to two players, so that it 
would cost him 400. If there is anything in figures, 
this would suggest that he should never risk being 
set more than one trick, as it is cheaper to lose 
the rubber. 

In pirate bridge, one must get a partner to share 
the risk if one overbids one's hand. If he is willing 
to take a sting, all the strength must be in the 
two opposing hands and he must have abandoned 
all hope of getting either of them for a partner. 
If you cannot get a partner to join in the sacrifice 
of anywhere from 200 to 800 points, the only re- 
source is to attach yourself to the player who does 
not want you for a partner, and carry him down 
to destruction with you. 

This is, of course, a plausible way of saving the 
game, when you see that a certain partnership 
will win it. Accept one of the two players you 
are afraid of, so that the one he had hoped to get 



PIRATE BRIDGE in 

for a partner shall play against him. But all 
that was thought of when the rules for the game 
were being drawn up, and the ease with which such 
a scheme can be frustrated has already been pointed 
out. No matter where the pirate may sit who 
wants to scuttle the ship, the one he takes pris- 
oner waits until his intended partner bids an 
extra trick and then accepts him, allowing the 
interloper to walk the plank. 

If a weak contract is deliberately undertaken 
by two players at pirate bridge, and set for two 
tricks, doubled, it will cost the losers 400 points 
each, instead of the 200 they would lose at auc- 
tion where only one adversary has to be settled 
with. Instead of the player having an even chanpe 
to win the rubber if he takes the sting to save the 
game, it is three to one against him. 

Let us suppose that he does win the rubber 
game after being stung to get the opportunity. 
Call it three no-trumps and 30 aces, with 50 for 
the game and 50 rubber points added. That is 
160, won from two players, total 320, for which 
he has risked being set 400 or perhaps 600, when 
he could have taken the same chance at a cost of 
not more than 220 by letting some one play the 
hand in peace. Then the big hand that is hoped 
for will be the first game on the new rubber, if it 
is not in time to win this one. 

So far as my personal experience goes, I have 



I 

112 PIRATE BRIDGE 

never found the auction system of overbidding 
one's hand in order to save a game to be worth 
the investment, even at that game. At pirate, 
it is sheer folly. 



THE NULLO 

The nullo is a declaration at no-trumps to lose 
tricks, and the number of tricks bid is the number 
the nullo player undertakes to force upon his 
opponents, in spite of their efforts not to win them. 
That is, a bid of four nullos means that they will 
win four tricks over the usual book of six. There 
are no honors, and the tricks are worth ten points 
each, the bid ranking between spades and no- 
trumps. 

Although this bid has been anathema among 
the better class of auction players, chiefly because 
no one could devise any intelligible system of 
bidding it, and because there was no retreat from 
disaster if it did not suit the partner's hand, there 
seeims to be no reason why it should not be intro- 
duced in pirate bridge if the four players at the 
table like the declaration, and think they know 
how to play it; which is a very rare accompHsh- 
ment, by the way. 

When the nullo was attempted as a part of the 
game of auction, it was a guess game, pure and 
simple. If a player holds the seven top hearts he 
8 113 



114 PIRATE BRIDGE 

is absolutely sure of seven tricks if hearts are 
trumps, or at no-trumps, no matter what his 
partner lays down for the dummy. But if he 
holds thirteen cards, all below the five, there is no 
certainty about how many tricks he will lose if 
he bids a nullo, because his dummy may be forced 
to take home any number from one to a dozen. 
Once the bid is made, there is no escape, unless 
the partner overcalls with a contract that is 
equally doomed to failure, on account of the weak- 
ness of the hand that bid the nullo. 

Even when the player passed without a bid at 
auction, it was unsafe for his partner to bid a nullo 
unless it was almost perfect, as so many hands that 
have no sound declaration in them for a free bid 
are still much too strong for nullos. 

If the game is pirate bridge, there is not the 
slightest risk in bidding a nullo, because only the 
player whose cards are eminently suited to that 
declaration will accept you. It frequently hap- 
pens that two hands are so strong in the major 
suits or no-trumps, that neither of the others has 
a chance against them. In such cases the only 
defense is the nullo, which, if it has no other re- 
sult, may push the strong hands just a trick 
beyond their depth. With fair cards in a minor 
suit, not enough to bid more than a trick or two, 
a nullo may offer a means of escape from a power- 
ful adversary. Take this situation: 



PIRATE BRIDGE 



115 



^Q105 
4^ 10 5 
<> AKQ 
4^ KJ943 



9 J94 




N 




^ 8532 


Jtt A7642 


W 




E 


*KQJ8 


632 








J 10 9 4 


♦ 52 




S 




♦ 6 



9? AK7 
4^ 93 
<> 875 
♦ A Q 10 8 7 

S deals and bids a spade, accepted by N. Then 
E and W may bid the clubs, which is their only 
hope, but N and S would continue to press the 
spade until E and W had to submit or be doubled 
and set just as many tricks as their contract called 
for. The only resource for W would be to bid 
the nullo. 

This hand is good for five by cards in which- 
ever major suit N and S choose to select. It is 
equally good for five nullos, which will overcall 
five spades or hearts, if E and W have the courage 
to go so far. 

Small cards, singletons, and two-card suits are 
the strongest elements in nullos. If the acceptor 
has low cards in two suits, but only intermediates 
in the others, he may be pretty sure that the nullo 



ii6 PIRATE BRIDGE 

bidder has the small cards in those apparently 
dangerous suits. The one thing that the nullo 
player should be warned against is a long suit with- 
out the deuce. The rest of his hand is stripped, 
and then he is thrown into the lead with this 
suit by the player who holds back the deuce of it 
to the last. 

PLAYING NULLOS 

The great art in playing nullos is to get discards, 
and to drop the high cards on tricks two at a time. 
It is astonishing how many aces and kings may be 
got rid of in this way. 

The usual rule when playing with or against a 
nullo is to lead the higher of two cards, the inter- 
mediate of three, and lowest of four, but never to 
touch ''safe" suits — suits in which you cannot 
be compelled to take a trick, no matter how the 
lead comes. 

The same rules might be applied to the play of 
the second hand, but whether to go up or ''duck'* 
is largely matter of judgment. 

As an example of the possibilities of nullo hands, 
take this situation, in which eleven of the twenty- 
six cards held by the partners are higher than the 
eight, among them being three tens, two jacks, 
three queens, a king and an ace, added to which 
they play the declaration with the worst possible 
position of the dummy, opposite the declarer. 



PIRATE BRIDGE 



117 



9 743 
flfl K96 
J9 
4 AJ974 



C^Q952 




N 




^Jio 


♦ A 10 7 5 


W 




E 


^ QJ8432 


<> 742 




10 8 


4^ 83 




S 




♦ KQ2 



t? AK86 
* — 

AKQ653 
4^ 10 6 5 

S dealt and bid two diamonds, which no one 
accepted. That bid being void, W passed and 
N bid a spade. E passed and S accepted. Then 
E bid two clubs accepted by W. When N went 
back to the spades and S accepted, E shifted to 
the nullo, and they carried it to four, which fright- 
ened S back to the diamonds. This is good bid- 
ding, as there are five tricks in diamonds in the 
hand, but only four in spades, but no one would 
accept the diamond contract at five and neither 
N nor S .^^ould go to five spades, so it was played 
at four nuilos. 

Now look how E and W get rid of those eleven 
high cards and win the game, making their con- 
tract. S led the interior spade six, W played the 
eight, and E won it with the king. The next lead 



Ii8 PIRATE BRIDGE 

was the jack of hearts, underplayed by dummy 
with the nine when S played small, so as to win 
the ten of hearts with the queen and discard the 
queen of spades on the five of hearts-, W holding 
up the deuce. 

There is no escape from this attack. If S wins 
either the first or second lead of hearts and tries 
another spade, E wins it and leads the deuce of 
spades after getting rid of the second heart (if 
he still holds it). E and W can make four nuUos 
againvSt any defense N and S may offer. 

The nullo is a very interesting declaration, but 
it requires great powers of memory and observa- 
tion to play it well, the trick being to take your 
medicine early in the hand and not to try to get 
rid of the lead too quickly. Those opposed to 
the nullo should do their best to give the partner 
discards and prevent discards from the dummy. 
The object in leading short suits is to discard the 
dangerous cards in other suits. 

It is a game with great possibilities in skilful 
hands, but should be used only as a defense, never 
as an original bid for attack. About the third 
round of the bids, when the declaration has got 
up to three tricks, is about the time for a nullo 
bid. 



PLAYING THE HANDS 

There are certain conventional leads and plays 
that every person should be familiar with before 
cutting into anything but the domestic rubber. 
The best way to secure a thorough knowledge of 
these conventions is to take a pack of cards and 
sort out a suit with which to go through the com- 
binations. The actual cards in the hand soon 
accustom the eye to the ones that require to be 
led or played in a certain way. 

The declarer always has a great advantage in 
seeing exactly what his partner is capable of. In 
pirate bridge he has the additional advantage, 
about twice out of every three times, of having 
the dummy next him and leading through both 
adversaries. Tenaces are most valuable in case 
they are on the right. 

It is probably hardly necessary to tell the reader 
that a tenace is the best and third-best of a suit 
in which you do not hold the second-best. The 
ace and queen of a suit is a familiar example. A 
minor tenace is the king and jack. A fourchette 
is the combination in one hand, or between the 

119 



120' PIRATE BRIDGE 

two hands, of the cards just above and below the 
one led. If a queen is led and one hand holds 
king and the other the jack, with others, that is 
a fourchette over the qiieen. Both king and jack 
in one hand are the same thing, of course. An 
imperfect fourchette is the card above and the 
one next but one below; such as queen and nine 
over a jack led. 

The first thing that the beginner should study 
in the play of the hands is the correct card to 
lead from any combination. If the partner has 
bid a suit, it is usual to lead that, unless you have 
an ace-king suit yourself which you have not 
mentioned in the bidding. In that case, show 
your two winning cards by leading the king. 
Hold the ace and lead his suit, and he will know 
where he can put you back into the lead at any 
time, or will have a suit that he can safely un- 
guard. 

It is usual to lead the best card you hold of 
your partner's suit, because he does not care much 
about number as a rule, but wants to know exactly 
what high cards are out against him, so that he 
may calculate what is to be expected from that 
suit. 

If your partner has not named any suit, lead 
your own, whether you have declared it or not. 
If the winning declaration is a trump suit, and 
you do not lead_^your own suit after bidding it, 



PIRATE BRIDGE 121 

or your partner*s suit, if he has bid one, the card 
you do lead should be an absolute singleton, show- 
ing you want to make a little trump ruffing. 

All short-suit and singleton openings are dan- 
gerous, however, unless you can stop the trump 
lead before your trumps are all exhausted, and 
try something else, in case your partner could not 
win and return your singleton. 

There are three principal plays, purely conven- 
tional, which should be mastered in all their 
variations : 

1. The card to lead, which shows what high 
cards are out against the leader in that suit. If 
these are not exposed in the dummy, nor in the 
hand of the partner, the declarer must have them. 

2. The two principal echoes, one with a trump 
suit, the other at no-trump. These show how 
many of the suit remain in the hand when the 
partner leads and sometimes tell just what the 
high cards are. Returning the partner's suit is 
a sort of echo. 

3. The discards, which indicate possible tricks 
in suits that have not yet been led, or direct the 
partner to keep some other suit, so that you may 
protect both between you. 

In playing against a trump declaration, the 
object is to get home all the tricks you can, and 
especially to make sure of saving the game, if it 
can be saved. Against no-trtmipers, your long 



122 PIRATE BRIDGE 

suits cannot be ruffed, and the aim is to get them 
established before you lose your reentry cards in 
other suits, if you have any. 

SELECTING THE SUIT 

In playing against trump declarations, length 
in a suit is of no value unless you are long in trumps 
yourself, which never happens at pirate bridge 
among good players. Against a no-trumper, 
length may be valuable. In pirate bridge it is 
very seldom indeed that you can hope to run down 
a long suit against a no-trumper, as you can at 
auction, because the players will not accept such 
a bid until they are pretty sure they have every 
suit stopped between them. 

It is bad policy to lead away from tenace suits 
or from suits headed by single honors. The best 
leads are from suits that contain two touching 
honors. If you should be lucky enough to find 
yourself with four trumps, it is bad policy to lead 
a singleton, if you have a good suit, because if 
you can get a force on the strong trump hand and 
he had only five trumps to start with, you may 
outlast him, and bring in your suit. The situa- 
tion is unlikely at pirate, but in auction it is not 
uncommon for an adversary to have as many 
trumps as the declarer, or even more. 

It is usually bad play to select a suit headed by 



PIRATE BRIDGE 123 

winning cards when you are playing against a no- 
trumper, unless there are at least three honors in 
it. A long weak suit may be estabHshed by lead- 
ing it first, and keeping the high cards in the other 
suit for reentries. 

SELECTING THE CARD 

The correct card to lead from any combination 
is one of the most important things in the game, 
because every card shows to the partner the posi- 
tion of certain other cards. If the leader denies 
them, the leader's partner can place them to a 
certainty, as he always sees the dummy and his 
own hand. 

The high card that is led more often than any 
other is the king. This lead is governed by the 
simple rule that it must always be accompanied 
by the card next it in value; that is, the ace or the 
queen, or both . 

The only occasions upon which a player will 
lead the ace and follow with the king is when he 
has no more and is both ready and willing to ruff 
a third round, having no other use for those high 
cards. That is, they are not wanted for reentries. 

When a king is led against a no-trumper, there 
should be at least three honors in the suit, or the 
suit so long that to lead a smaller card would be 
unsafe, such as six or seven to the king-queen. 



124 PIRATE BRIDGE 

These three honors would be A K Q, or K Q J, 
or A K J, or A K lo, or K Q lo. 

The ace always denies the king. It may be 
led from three honors, such as A Q J, or A J lo. 
or from a suit of five or more against a trump. 
Against a no-trumper the ace is led from any suit 
of seven or more, even with the king behind it, 
to induce the partner to get out of the way on the 
first trick. With short suits headed by the ace, 
it is better to hold that card back and lead some 
other suit. 

The lead of a queen or jack denies any higher 
cards in that suit, and should always be backed 
up by the card next below it. Against a trump 
the queen may be led from queen-jack and others. 
Against a no-trumper it should not be led without 
the ten as well as the jack, or the nine and aj 
least five in suit. 

Against a no-trumper the queen is often led 
from A Q J and others when there is not another 
trick in the hand. The object is to get the king 
out of the way at once, and at the same time to 
leave the partner with one of the suit to return 
if he gets in. Jack is sometimes led from A J lo 
for the same reasons. 

The card to lead from any suit that is not headed 
by two or more touching honors and which is not 
the suit your partner has declared, is the fourth 
best, counting from the top. From such a suit 



PIRATE BRIDGE * 125 

as K 10 6 5 2, for instance, lead the five. Some 
players do not care for this lead except against 
no-trumpers, as they think showing number 
unimportant, when there is a trump suit. 

Two-card suits, unless they are supporting 
honors, such as queen and jack, are very bad 
opening leads, because the partner cannot read 
them, and does not know what to do with them. 
If there is no singleton in the hand, a three-card 
suit is better than one of two only, or even the 
lowest of four to an honor. It is important for 
the partner to know that if you open a weak suit 
from the top, such as a nine, you can either trump 
the second round or cannot trump it at all. 

SECONDARY LEADS 

Having indicated in a general way the combina- 
tion of cards from which you have made the open- 
ing lead, you can go into details on the second 
round, denying certain cards while indicating 
others. The first maxim of secondary leads is 
never to tell your partner anything he already 
knows. 

Having led the king and won the trick, your 
partner knows you have the ace, but he does not 
know whether you have the queen. If you have, 
lead it for the second round of the suit. If you 
follow with the ace you tell him you have not the 



126 PIRATE BRIDGE 

queen, so the declarer must hold it if it is not in 
the dummy. 

Having led the king from K Q J, follow with 
the jack, whether your king wins the trick or not. 
Your partner knows you have the queen if the 
king loses, but he does not know you have the 
jack. If the ace is held up, but wins your jack, 
he places the queen with you. If the ace is still 
held up he knows it, because from A K Q you 
would follow the king with the queen, not the 
jack. The jack denies the ace. If you do not 
follow with the jack, he knows the lead is from 
K Q ID, or from K Q and small cards. 

When you lead the king from K Q and small 
cards, and the king wins the first trick, follow 
with your original fourth-best and let your partner 
make the ace, unless you have reason to suppose 
that the declarer is holding up ace and jack for 
what is known as the Bath coup. From K Q 7 6 2, 
for instance, follow a winning king with the six. 

Having led the ace from three honors, follow 
with the next highest card. That is to say: lead 
ace then queen from A Q J; or ace then jack from 
A J 10. If you have only one honor behind the 
ace, or none, follow with the fourth-best. From 
A J 8 6 3, follow the ace with the six. 

Follow the queen with the jack if you have 
not the ten. Follow with the ten if you have led 
the queen first from Q J 10 and others. If you 



PIRATE BRIDGE 127 

lead the jack as the top of a weak suit, follow 
with the next higher card. 

Players do not agree on the best lead from K J 10, 
some preferring the ten, some the fourth-best. 
The lead should be avoided altogether if possible, 
as it is one of the worst combinations to lead away 
from that can be held. Against a trump declara- 
tion, if the suit must be opened, it is better to 
lead the ten. Against a no-trumper, the fourth- 
best (the card just below the ten, whatever it is). 
Having forced the queen with the ten, lead either 
of the two that are now second- and third-best for 
the second round, so as to force the ace. 

Never forget to lead one of two equals on the 
second round of a suit, especially if they are the 
second- and third-best. This insures you against 
losing the trick to anything but the best of the 
suit. For example: having led the fourth-best 
from Q 10 6 5 2, your partner's jack falling to the 
king, lead the queen or ten next time, so as to be 
sure of forcing the ace and remaining with the 
best of the suit in your own hand. 



THE PARTNER 

The play of the third hand, or of the second 
hand if both adversaries of the declaration sit 
together, varies according to the declaration, 
trumps or no-trumps, and according to the posi- 
tion of the dummy. The opening lead is made in 
the dark, the partner sees dummy before he plays. 

Against a trump, the chief thing is to show 
whether or not you can ruff the third round of 
your partner's suit. Against a no-trumper it is 
to show how many cards you hold in your partner's 
suit and what the high ones are, at the same time 
getting out of the way of his long suit. The 
trouble with many players is that their play 
means one thing at one time and something else 
at another. This is fatal to success. 

When a small card is led, one of the most im- 
portant rules is for the partner to win the trick 
as cheaply as possible. One should never pay a 
dollar for a trick that can be had for fifty cents. 

Holding two touching honors, such as king and 

queen, for instance, to play the king on your 

partner's lead denies the queen, and marks that 

128 



PIRATE BRIDGE 129 

card as with the declarer. Holding queen and 
ten, if the dummy is between the leader and third 
hand, and the jack is in the dummy, the ten should 
be played; not the queen, if dummy does not put 
on the jack. To play the queen would be to deny 
the ten. 

When the partner makes no attempt to win the 
trick, his play is confined to indicating what he 
holds in that suit. This is called an echo, and these 
echoes are of two kinds. 

THE TRUMP ECHO 

When playing against a trump declaration, if 
the leader's partner holds only two cards of the 
suit led, neither as high as the jack, and makes 
no attempt to win the trick, he should play the 
higher card first, so that when the second and 
smaller card falls, his partner shall know he has 
no more and can ruff the third round. This is 
called the down-and-out echo, and is used only 
against a trump. 

Suppose the partner holds the seven and four, 
a king led. The play to the king is the seven. 
The leader must hold ace or queen and will win 
the second round, on which the four falls. If he 
has both ace and queen he can lead a small card 
for the third round and let his partner ruff, or he 
can lead the winning card and get a discard, which 
may direct him which suit to lead next. 



130 PIRATE BRIDGE 

Some players use this echo to encourage the 
partner to continue the suit. If they hold the 
Q 7 4, for example, they will play the seven and 
then the four to show they can win the third round 
with the queen. This is sometimes very confus- 
ing, because the leader does not know whether 
his partner can make a little trump, or whether 
the declarer will ruff the queen and get into the 
lead, sometimes with great advantage to the 
declaration. 

It is never necessary to use this echo when 
either of the two cards is as high as the jack, 
because when the high card falls, the partner is 
marked with the next higher or none. But if the 
jack is played first from jack and another, the 
leader will place the queen or no more in that 
hand and may lose a valuable trick by leading a 
small card, under the impression that his partner 
can win it, either with the queen or with a trump. 

THE NO-TRUMP ECHO 

When the declaration is no-trump, and the 
leader's partner makes no attempt to win the 
trick, no matter where he sits, the rule is to play 
the second-best, regardless of number or value. 
The partner may make no attempt to win the trick 
for either of two reasons: The leader's card may 
be high enough for that purpose, or the dummy 



PIRATE BRIDGE 131 

may be second hand and play a card that the third 
hand cannot win. 

This rule is based on the theory that the leader 
is longer in the suit than his partner and it is 
always important at no-trumps for the hand that 
is shorter in the suit to get out of the way. The 
declarer will try to hold his high cards as long as 
possible, so as to block the suit. The leader's 
partner should do just the opposite, and should 
try to get rid of his high cards as quickly as 
possible. 

This unblocking process, for that is what it is, 
must be followed up by always keeping the smallest 
card of three or more to the last. Suppose a 
king is led and the partner holds 10 8 2. He plays 
the eight on the king, because that is his second- 
best. The ten is given up on the next trick, no 
matter who leads the suit or wins the trick, keep- 
ing the unblocking deuce until the last. Even 
with equal cards the echo should be played in this 
way. Holding 876, play the seven and then the 
eight. 

If there are four in the suit, such as 10 8 6 2, 
the second-best of those remaining must be 
played to the second trick; first the eight, then the 
six. This "playing down" marks the partner 
with the smallest still in hand, and one above the 
first card played. 

This system is called the Foster echo, and aims 



132 PIRATE BRIDGE 

to give the leader two distinct points about his 
partner's hand, at the same time exposing any 
false cards played by the declarer. In the first 
place the echo indicates number. If the first 
card played must be the smallest held there can 
be only one more in the partner's hand. If there 
are three, the suit is played up. If more than 
three, it is played down, as already explained. 

In the second place, this echo shows that there 
cannot be more than one card in the partner's 
hand higher than the one he plays. Suppose the 
lead is a queen, from Q J lo, and the partner 
drops the nine, the trick being won by the ace. 
The partner is absolutely marked with the king, 
or no more. Had he played a smaller card than 
the nine, the declarer might be false-carding with 
both ace and king. 

The partner should never attempt to win a 
trick with a card that is not the best he holds, or 
in sequence with it. This is explained in the 
chapter on finesse. 

THE ELEVEN RULE 

When the opening lead is a high card, it belongs 
to one or other of the high-card combinations ex- 
plained in the chapter on leading, the exact one 
being indicated by the second lead from the same 
suit. But when the opening lead is a small card, 



PIRATE BRIDGE 133 

or fourth-best, it gives no indication of the exact 
denomination of the three higher cards in hand, 
but there is one thing that the lead of a fourth- 
best does show. This is the exact number of 
cards, higher than the one led, that are out against 
the leader somewhere round the table. 

There is no possible wa^^ of showing your partner 
that you are leading the seven from K 10 8 7 2, 
but you can tell him that as soon as he can locate 
any four cards higher than the seven, the three 
others are in the leader's hand. 

This is accomplished by the eleven rule, which 

I invented away back in the early 8o's, for the 
benefit of whist players. The rule is this : 

Deduct the spots on the card led from eleven, 
and the difference is the number of cards, higher 
than the one led, that are not in the leader's hand. 

Taking the example just given, the lead of the 
seven from K 10 8 7 2, the partner takes 7 from 

II and finds the remainder 4. Dummy has laid 
down the Q 9 4, and the partner holds A J 5. If 
the dummy is between the leader and his partner 
and does not cover the seven, that card will hold 
the trick, as all four cards required by the eleven 
rule are in sight. 

Another example. The lead is the eight, and 
the partner is second hand, declarer third hand, 
and dummy fourth hand. The partner holds the 
Q 10 4, and sees the A 5 in the dummy. Deduct- 



134 



PIRATE BRIDGE 



ing the eight, led, from eleven, he finds the three 
cards higher than the eight are all in sight, 
therefore the leader must have the K J 9 still in 
hand. 

The reader should take a pack of cards, sort out 
a suit, and satisfy himself that this rule is infallible 
provided the card led is always the fourth-best, 
counting from the top. A player who is alert 
may sometimes make great use of this eleven rule 
in connection with inferences from the bids, espe- 
cially when playing against no-trumpers. Take 
this situation: 





\y 10 7 62 
^ Q84 
864 
4^ AJ9 




95 
♦ J63 

Q J 10 9 2 
4^ K65 


N 

W E 

S 


^ AK83 
4I» A52 
AK 
4 1083 2 




^ Qj4 
^ K 10 9 7 
753 
4^ Q74 





S dealt and passed. W and N both passed, and 
E bid no-trumps, which S did not accept because 
he was on the wrong side. W accepted, all passed. 



PIRATE BRIDGE 135 

and S led the seven of clubs. Dummy played 
small and N read that the declarer, E, could have 
only one card higher than the seven, as three of 
the four, indicated by the eleven rule, are in sight, 
dummy's jack, N's queen and eight. E must have 
the other, and that card must be the ace or 
the king, because if S had held both those cards 
he would have had two sure tricks in clubs, and 
would have bid a club on his own deal. 

On the strength of this inference N plays the 
four of clubs and the ace wins the trick. Now 
observe the difference this initial play makes in 
the result. With the queen of clubs held over the 
jack, it is impossible for E to make more than six 
tricks, because there is no way to get dummy into 
the lead with the established diamond suit after 
the ace and king are out of the way. " 

Had N played the queen of clubs on the first 
trick, without stopping to apply the eleven rule 
to the situation, and considering the absence of 
any bid from S, E could have led through the 
clubs and made a trick with the jack, either on 
the second round or the third. This would have 
brought in three more diamonds and won the 
game, instead of which E is set for 50 points. 

Incidentally, the reader's attention may be 
called to the mistake made by E m bidding no- 
trump without feeling his way. If he starts with 
the spade, in which he has not a trick, and either 



136 



PIRATE BRIDGE 



S or W accepts him, N will double. With N for a 
partner E goes game at no-trump. 

As we shall see when we come to the declarer's 
play, he has a great advantage in being able to 
foresee and prepare for certain positions that will 
not arise until later in the play. He sees the 
cards in each hand. His opponents have to infer 
the cards in each other's hands. In this process 
their chief reliance must be on the eleven rule, 
and it is remarkable to what uses it may sometimes 
be put. Here is a case in which it not only saved 
a game but set the contract. The hand is inter- 
esting also as shoTving how the opponents may 
sometimes borrow a little piece of strategy from 
the tactics that are usually considered peculiar 
to the declarer and dummy. 



^ 10 7 62 
♦ J8 
A872 
4^ 742 



^ Q83 




N 




9 J94 


4^ K 10 97532 


W 




E 


*A 


06 








K Q J 10 3 


4^ KG 




S 




4^ 10 9 83 



^ AK5 

♦ Q64 
O 954 

♦ AQJ5 



PIRATE BRIDGE 137 

S started with a spade, accepted by E. Then 
W bid three clubs, not on a solid suit, as this is 
not an original or free bid, but to show that he 
could attend to the trump situation and wanted 
tricks in other suits to help him out. No one 
accepted, so that bid was void. 

As S was the bidder and not the acceptor, he 
had the right to bid again, and he rightly inferred 
that if W had all the clubs, and S held two sure 
tricks in hearts himself, E must have accepted 
his spade bid on the diamonds, so S bid no-trumps, 
as he could stop the clubs if W led them. W 
did not read the situation, and accepted, and to 
pull himself out of it S bid two no-trumps. 
This little hint caused W to drop out, and E 
accepted. 

W led the seven of clubs, and E's cards were put 
down. Without stopping to apply the eleven rule, 
but seeing the lone ace of clubs in E's hand, N 
played the eight, and S went game on the hand by 
establishing the diamonds and refusing to cover 
the jack of clubs with the queen, which was the 
only chance, as S knows he is lost if N has another 
club to lead. N had no more and tried the hearts. 

The king won the trick and four diamond tricks 
made, on which W had to discard clubs, or lose 
his queen of hearts or king of spades. Reading 
the situation, S led two rounds of spades, and 
after W had made his one remaining club, S won 



138 PIRATE BRIDGE 

the rest of the tricks, with the ace of hearts and 
jack of spades. 

The moment the seven of clubs was led, N should 
have counted only four higher out against his 
partner. He has two (J 8). Dummy has one. 
The declarer must have one. If that is the king, 
N cannot do anything, but if it is the queen, N 
must prepare the tenace position for his partner 
by giving up the jack. 

Had he done this he could have led the eight 
of clubs on getting in with the ace of diamonds, 
and whether S covered the eight or not would 
have made no difference. W will win the trick 
and run down the suit, leaving S with only six 
tricks on a contract to win eight. 



THE DISCARD 

Every player of experience has his own theory 
about discarding, but the simplest rule for the 
beginner is to discard the suit he is not afraid of, 
if he is fortunate enough to have such a thing. 
If the declaration is no-trump and one of the 
opponents has three clubs to the jack, and five 
diamonds to the ace-king, he may be pretty sure 
it is not the diamonds that the declarer will attack 
after he is done with the suit he is leading, on 
which this opponent has to discard. Keep the 
clubs. Three to a jack has stopped many a long 
suit. Let go the diamonds. The ace and king 
are probably all you can make. 

It is often important to keep at least one of the 
partner's suit to lead to him, if there is any hope 
of getting in. It is dangerous to blank an ace 
or discard the last of a suit, as it may betray the 
partner's hand. 

Discarding weak suits is a fatal error. Queen 
in one hand, jack in the other, will stop any suit, 
if either card is twice guarded. Remember that 
axiom. Take this situation : 

139 



140 



PIRATE BRIDGE 



^ A98743 
1^ 9853 
0Q3 

♦ a 



^5 


N 




^QJ6 


♦ QJ642 


W 


E 


♦ lO 


K85 






J64 


4^ 9642 


s 




4^ KQJ753 



^ K10 2 
4^ AZ7 

A 10 9 7 2 
4^ 10 8 



S dealt and bid a club, accepted by W. Then 
N bid hearts, accepted by E, S bidding no-trump, 
accepted by W. When N bids two hearts, E 
passes, as he wants to bid the spades and get the 
no-trumper to accept him, but when all passed 
the heart and E did bid the spades, S refused, 
preferring to play the hand himself, at no-trump, 
which he did, as W accepted the spade bid, lead- 
ing S to believe he had that suit stopped. W 
accepted S's final bid of two no-trumps. 

N led the ace of spades and then a low heart, 
as E had accepted him on hearts, but S won the 
jack with the king and proceeded to make five 
clubs. On the clubs E discarded one small dia- 
mond and then two small spades, so as to keep 
the queen and one heart for reentry. The second 



PIRATE BRIDGE 141 

diamond discard did no harm, as the first was 
enough, S making five diamond tricks and win- 
ning the game, five by cards. 

If E throws away all his spades but the king, 
keeping the suit he is afraid of, he must make a 
club, a spade, and two more hearts, saving the 
game. 

THE REVERSE DISCARD 

This is sometimes useful when the partner may 
be in doubt what to keep or what to lead. If the 
player who has a discard holds a suit with an ace 
in it and has two smaller cards, such as the eight 
and four, by discarding the eight and then the 
four he can show the sure trick. Some players 
make a distinction between completing the echo 
or reverse discard in this way, and stopping after 
they have thrown any card as high as a seven. 
To stop means a probable trick; to complete the 
reverse echo, a certain trick. 



SECOND HAND PLAY 

The most concise rule for the second hand on 
any trick, when a small card is led through him, 
is to play a high card when he holds any combina- 
tion from which he would lead a high card if he 
were leading that suit. 

With ace king and others, for instance, the card 
to lead would be one of the high ones, the king. 
Then the king should be played second hand if 
a small card is led through. 

The beginner should clearly understand the 
meaning of the terms, ''leading through," and 
** leading up to." If you hold the ace and queen 
of a suit in which the king has not been played, 
and you do not know where that king is, you are 
led through if one of your opponents has to play 
after you, as he may have the king. If your 
partner is on your right and leads, you are led 
through, as both opponents have to play after 
you. 

But if you are the last player on the trick, the 
suit is led up to you , not through you. If dummy 
is exposed on your right and it is your lead, you 

142 



PIRATE BRIDGE 143 

are leading up to dummy. If the declarer is on 
your left, you are leading through the declarer. 

The only difference between leading a suit and 
playing a high card when it is led through you, 
is that you try to win the trick as cheaply as pos- 
sible when you are not the leader. Holding king 
and queen, for instance, you would lead the king, 
but if you are second hand on a small card led 
you would play the queen, just as you would if 
you were third hand and your partner led the suit. 

With queen jack and only one small card, the 
jack should always be played second hand if a 
small card is led through, but with two small 
cards many players consider it safe to pass when 
playing against a no-trumper, as the opponent 
who is still to play will hardly finesse against two 
such cards, and two tricks may be made with the 
queen and jack after the king and ace are 
played. 

Cover an honor with an honor is an excellent 
rule if you are short in the suit, because it forces 
the opponent who leads an honor through you 
to play another honor from his partner's hand to 
win the trick. The most common situation is 
when a player leads a queen or a jack to a king or 
ace. If the second hand covers the jack with 
the queen, the third hand must play the king, 
otherwise he would allow the jack to win. This 
cover may make a ten, or even a nine, good in the 



144 PIRATE BRIDGE 

hand of the partner, on account of the number 
of higher cards expended to win the first trick. 

When the dummy is opposite the declarer, a 
good rule for the second hand, with the dummy on 
his left, is to be sure that dummy does not win 
the trick with an inferior card. As already ex- 
plained, a good player will lead from an ace to a 
queen in his partner's hand. If the declarer leads 
a small card to a queen in his dummy, and the 
second hand holds the king, it is usually better 
to make sure of the trick at once, or the declarer 
may ruff the third round if he can win the first 
with dummy's queen and the second with his 
own ace. 

The beginner is too apt, however, to imagine 
that a dummy on the left should be forced to play 
high cards by putting on high cards second hand, 
when no high card is led through. This is a seri- 
ous mistake, because the dummy must play the 
high card no matter what the second player does, 
or lose the trick. 

One often sees a beginner put a king on second 
hand so as to force dummy to play the ace, when 
dummy would have to play the ace anyhow, or 
allow the fourth player to win the trick with a 
ten or a jack. It is only when the second hand 
holds two or more high cards in sequence that one 
should be played on a small card led. 

The second hand should always cover with a 



PIRATE BRIDGE 145 

fourchette, which is the card above and the card 
below the one led through. Let us suppose a ten 
is led, and second hand holds jack and nine. This 
is a fourchette, and the jack should be played on 
the ten, no matter what the cards in the third 
hand may be, unless they are such that they must 
be played, such as the ace or queen and no smaller 
cards. 

One of the most common faults with the begin- 
ner in second-hand-play is called finessing against 
his own partner. Let us suppose dummy on the 
right, the declarer on the left, and a small card led 
from dummy, the second hand holding ace queen 
and small. The only correct play is the small 
card or the ace, because if the queen is played, and 
the king is on the left, the queen is thrown away. 
If the king is with the partner, he can attend to 
the trick without any assistance from the second 
hand. If both ace and queen are held, they effec- 
tually block that suit, therefore the ace should be 
played only when the trick is important, such as 
the one that saves the game. 

It is usually a mistake to play false cards second 
hand, as it deceives no one but the partner. To 
put on the ace second hand, holding both ace and 
king, leads the partner to believe the king is with 
the declarer. The declarer knows perfectly well 
he does not hold it, and usually does not care 
which adversary has it. 



RETURNING SUITS 

After the opening lead, the original leader may 
get in himself on another suit and continue his 
suit, or his partner may get into the lead, and it 
will then be a question of returning the suit first 
opened by his partner, or leading one of his own. 

In returning the partner's suit, the general rule 
is to lead the higher of only two remaining and 
the lowest of three. But this rule is continually 
modified by the cards exposed in the dummy, if 
that hand is on your partner's left, and the de- 
clarer is on your left. In returning a partner's 
suit in this situation, one should always beat 
dummy. 

Take this situation, which is typical of many 
deals. A small club was led originally. Dummy 
put down the 9 3 only. Third hand held Q 1072, 
losing the queen to the ace. The third hand 
gets in on another suit. If the lowest of three re- 
maining is returned, it will be the deuce, and it 
will take the partner's king to shut out dummy's 
nine, leaving the declarer with the jack. If the 
ten had been returned, under the rule always to 

146 



PIRATE BRIDGE 147 

beat dummy, the declarer's jack would have been 
caught, whether it was played on the ten or not. 

There are many opportunities to lead a card up 
to an exposed dummy which is not as good as 
dummy's best, but which will beat his second- 
best, such as a nine led up to ace eight and others. 

Holding two equals in your partner's suit, the 
higher should always be returned, regardless of 
number. Suppose you have lost the king to the 
ace on the first round and have the jack ten left, 
with or without others, lead the jack. If your 
partner has not the queen, this lead will force it out. 

Holding the best of your partner's suit, lead it, 
unless you can use it to better advantage as a 
reentry for a suit of your own, or something of 
that kind. It is often vital to give up the best of 
your partner's suit as soon as possible in no- 
trumpers. 

There are many cases in which it is not advisable 
to return your partner's lead at all. He may 
have led from a short or weak suit. He may 
have started with a trump, which invariably 
indicates that he has tenaces or guarded honors 
in the plain suits, and does not wish to lead away 
from them. 

The principal reason for not returning the part- 
ner's suit at once is to take advantage of the op- 
portunity to lead up to a weak suit in the dummy, 
so that your partner may make some inferior 



148 PIRATE BRIDGE 

card good for a trick, such as a guarded king, or 
a queen that is with the ace. 

This plan must be followed with caution when 
playing against no-trumpers, or strong trump 
declarations, as there is no certainty that your 
partner can benefit by the lead, and the opportu- 
nity for him to go right along with his own suit 
may be lost, but there are many hands in which 
the chance must be taken to save game. 

Let us suppose your partner has led a queen 
from Q J 10, dummy on your right, and the de- 
clarer wins the trick with the ace, which you know 
is a false card, as your partner denies the king. 
You get into the lead two tricks later. You may 
either return your partner's suit and get that 
king out of the way, or you may lead up to some 
weak suit in the dummy, such as three cards to 
an eight or nine. 

This may work in two ways. It may enable 
your partner to win a trick with a card which he 
could not have won anything with if he had been 
forced to lead that suit himself. On the other 
hand it may force him to give up the only sure 
trick he had in his hand with which to bring his 
long suit into play after that king was out of his 
way. Correct judgment of such situations comes 
only with experience and practice, much depending 
on the development of the hand up to that point, 
and the state of the score. The lead up to weak- 



PIRATE BRIDGE 



149 



ness in the dummy often places the declarer in a 
very embarrassing position if he is not well pro- 
tected in that suit, especially at no-trumps. 

When the declarer and dummy sit next each 
other, there are a number of situations that must 
be taken advantage of at the first opportunity, 
or tricks may be lost. The difference between 
this game and auction lies in the fact that in 
auction the declarer is never sure of inferior cards 
while one or other adversary always plays after 
him or after his dummy. In pirate bridge some 
combinations are a certainty, but the certainty 
depends upon the lead coming from the proper 
hand, and the opponents may forestall this if they 
are prompt in accepting the opportunity. As this 
is important, and also peculiar to pirate bridge, 
it may be well to illustrate it. 

^ K Q 10 8 6 
* KJ2 

852 

4^ 94 



92 




N 


^ 


AJ74 


4I1 963 


W 


E 


* 


8754 


AK73 









10 9 6 


^ A K 10 8 6 




S 


* 


53 




^ 


953 




i 


» 


AQIO 











QJ4 






' 


^ 


QJ72 







150 PIRATE BRIDGE 

The bidding on this hand was a pass by S, who 
dealt, W a spade, accepted by S, and then N bid 
two hearts, E would not accept, as he had not a 
trick in his hand outside trumps, and N led the 
king of hearts, S's cards going down, the accepted 
spade being the last bid. 

The moment E saw the dummy, he put the ace 
of hearts on his partner's king and led a club. Al- 
though dummy put on the ace and exhausted the 
trumps, killing the jack of clubs later, he could 
not shut out the king, which won the second Vound 
of clubs and saved the little slam. 

If E passes the first heart trick, it does not 
matter what N leads next, the little slam is a cer- 
tainty for W, as he can get in as often as he likes 
and make all three of S's clubs by leading through 
N and E, no matter what clubs each holds, or how 
they play them. 

Incidentally, it may be interesting to call atten- 
tion for a moment to W's bidding, which is not 
the best. He should have judged from his extreme 
weakness in hearts that some one would bid that 
suit, which would expose him to be made an accep- 
tor on the spades instead of the declarer. It will 
be seen that had E accepted the hearts, S would 
have bid the spades. W should have bid the 
diamonds first and held the spades in reserve. 
Had E accepted the hearts, and S bid the spades, 
W might have to refuse. 



THE DECLARER'S PLAY 

Many of the methods suggested for the play of 
the opponents can be applied with equally good 
results by the declarer, especially in such matters 
as covering second hand, leading high cards in- 
stead of small ones in certain situations, etc. But 
as the declarer has no partner who wishes to be 
exactly informed on any point, the exact card to 
lead from any given combination is unimportant. 
Holding A K Q the declarer may lead whichever 
he likes, and follow it with whichever suits his 
fancy. 

There is no need for any echoes from his partner, 
as he can play that hand to suit himself. He 
need not cover any small card second hand if he 
sees that dummy can win the trick just as well as 
he can, unless he wants the lead in a particular 
hand. 

While the position of the dummy may make a 
great difference in the methods employed by the 
declarer to secure his contract, there are certain 
principles that apply equally to all hands. These 
may be roughly divided into two classes, depend- 

15^ 



152 PIRATE BRIDGE 

ing on whether he is playing with a trump suit 
or without one. 

When there is a declared trump, the first con- 
sideration upon gaining the lead will be whether 
to lead out trumps immediately, or attend to 
some situation in the plain suits first, or to mix 
the two, alternating a trump lead with some play 
in the plain suits. The decision will usually rest 
upon the possibility of doing one or other of two 
different things first. These are usually to get 
rid of losing cards in plain suits, or to make some 
of the small trumps in the weaker hand before 
leading trumps. 

If neither of these opportunities present them- 
selves, trumps should be led only to protect some 
suit in which you have winning cards that might 
be trumped by the opponents. Whether these 
cards are in the hand of the declarer or his dummy, 
does not matter, but there is no use leading out 
trumps if there is nothing that the opponents will 
have to trump. That is simply getting the trumps 
out of the way of their strong suits. 

ELIMINATION 

The first thing for the declarer to do in every 
hand is to count up the sure tricks between the 
two hands, his own and dummy's, before he plays 
a card, and to determine where, if anywhere, there 
are any tricks to be picked up that are not in sight. 



PIRATE BRIDGE 153 

There should be a distinct plan of campaign for 
every hand, otherwise the play will be nothing 
but staggering from one suit to the other, hoping 
to find an opening, squandering all the highest 
cards in the hand in the first few tricks. 

There are very few hands in which the declarer 
cannot coimt up just what tricks he must win or 
lose as soon as he sees the dummy. If there were 
nothing to play for but the sure tricks in sight, 
bridge would be a very uninteresting game. There 
are three ways to get more tricks than appear on 
the surface. One is by judicious finessing, or 
leading up to guarded kings or queens in the part- 
ner's hand when it is on the right. Another is 
by making little trumps in one hand before lead- 
ing big trumps from the other, and by getting rid 
of small cards, so as to be ready to use small 
trumps to advantage. 

There are two maxims that the beginner should 
lay to heart. There is no use leading out a suit 
in which nothing can be accomplished in the way 
of winning tricks beyond the tricks in sight; and, 
there is no use trying to run down a big suit while 
the opponents have any trumps to stop it. 

If you hold the A K Q J of a suit between the 
two hands, those tricks are good any time. Play 
some other suit and get an extra trick out of it if 
you can. If you must lead a suit in which you can 
win every trick, get the trumps out of its way first. 



154 



PIRATE BRIDGE 



Many beginners make the mistake of starting a 
play in a plain suit, such as a finesse, before exhaust- 
ing the adverse trumps, when the finesse could be 
made just as well, and more safely, after those 
trumps were drawn. Many tricks are lost by 
allowing the opponents to regain the lead too early 
in the development of the hand. 

TRUMP PLAY 

A common fault with the beginner is being in 
too great a hurry to lead trumps just because he 
seems to have plenty of them. There are many 
hands in which it is highly important to get rid 
of some small cards in the plain suits first. Take 
this example : 



^ A8532 



< 


|i 10 7 5 








10 7 4 








4^ K5 






^QJ7 


N 




^10 6 


*KQJ6 


W 


E 


4^ 982 


8653 


AQJ92 


^ 96 


s 




4b 10 8 4 




9 K94 






< 


it A43 








OK 








4^ AQJ^ 


r32 


> 



PIRATE BRIDGE 155 

S dealt and bid two spades, accepted by E, no 
one else making a bid. W led the king of clubs 
and S won it with the ace. As the dummy is on 
his right, there is no possible finesse in trumps, 
because both adversaries play after S, so he led 
the trumps right out, ace and then queen. 

N won the second round, laid down the ace of 
hearts and then returned his partner's club suit. 
The two clubs in W's hand saved the game. 

S should have been able to count four losing 
cards in the two hands ; a trump, a heart, and two 
clubs, and his first care should have been to save 
the only tricks that could be saved by getting 
rid of those two losing clubs before leading trumps. 
If he leads the diamond, wins the king with the 
ace and leads two more rounds, it is impossible 
for him to fail to go game on the deal. Played in 
this way, the king of trumps and ace of hearts are 
the only tricks for W and N. 

Before leading trumps from the hand that is 
short in them, it may be necessary to take a finesse 
in some plain suit by leading it from that hand. 
There are many situations in which it looks im- 
probable that the hand will ever be in the lead 
again, and the question of leading trumps at once, 
or leading the suit for the finesse must be settled. 

Here is a good example of combining the trump 
lead with an opportunity to make some of the 
small trumps separately by ruffing: 



156 



PIRATE BRIDGE 





^10 9 7 

*Q 

86543 

4^ J864 




9 — 

4^ AK763 

Q72 

4^ AKQ75 


N 

W E 

S 


^ K8652 
4^ J 10 8 4 2 
A9 
4^2 




^ AQJ43 
4^ 95 

6 KJIO 
♦ 10 9 3 





S dealt and bid a heart, accepted by E. Then 
W got started on the spade suit, accepted by N, 
and they carried it to four, over four accepted 
hearts. In the actual play, W was set for one 
trick, because when E led the heart and W 
trumped the first trick, W took it for granted 
that the clubs would drop, or, if they did not drop, 
N could ruff them out, so he led two rounds of 
trumps right out, before touching the clubs. His 
last trump was forced out by the hearts, after he 
had made the queen of clubs and led a third trump, 
because even after N ruffed the fourth club the 
suit was not established. 

An established suit, it should be explained, is 
one in which the player can win every remaining 
trick, no matter who leads that suit. 



PIRATE BRIDGE 157 

The correct play of the hand would have been 
to lead a small club on winning the first heart 
trick with a trump. By coming back with a 
small trump, W could give N a ruff with a small 
club, and lead another small trump from that 
hand. Now he can ruff the third club with the 
jack, to make sure of the trick, and lead a heart, 
trumping it with the seven and catching S's last 
trump with the ace, losing three diamonds after 
making both ace and king of clubs. 

PLAYING NO-TRUMPERS 

The chief point about playing no-trumpers is 
to establish the small cards of a long suit, and 
bring that suit into the lead after all the higher 
cards in it are played. The success of this scheme 
usually depends on the skill of the player in arrang- 
ing for the reentry cards — the cards in other suits 
that will bring the dregs of the long suit into play. 

If there is no particularly long suit, or if nothing 
can be accompHshed with it, tricks must be looked 
for in finessing, or by forcing the opponents to 
lead up to cards that would not otherwise win 
tricks. 

There are one or two simple rules for the begin- 
ner to observe in playing no-trumpers. The first 
relates to the choice of suits to play for. 

I. Always play for the suit that is longest 
between the two hands, counting your own and 



158 PIRATE BRIDGE 

the dummy's together. If two suits are equal 
in number, choose the one that is more unequally 
divided, such as five in one hand, three in the 
other, in preference to a suit that is divided four 
and four. 

2. Always lead from the weak hand to the 
strong. Lead small cards to ace queen and 
others. Always lead from the hand with nothing 
but small cards in the suit to the hand that has 
the king and others; never lead from the king to 
the hand that has no high card in the suit. 

3. Play the high cards from the hand that is 
shorter in the suit, so as to get out of the way of 
the small cards in the hand that is long in that 
suit. With K Q small in one hand, J 10 and three 
small in the other, for instance, unless you play 
the king and queen from the hand that is short 
in the suit, you block your partner, and he may 
not be able to make the fourth and fifth tricks in 
that suit. 

4. Never assume that an adversary will do 
anything. Many beginners take it for granted 
that if they lead a king the adversary will take it 
with the ace. But he may refuse to do so, in 
order to block the suit. If you have K J 10 and 
others in one hand, only the queen in the other, 
do not imagine that the ace will go right up if 
you lead the queen, but make sure of forcing out 
that ace before losing the lead by overtaking the 



PIRATE BRIDGE 159 

queen with the king and leading the jack, and 
perhaps the ten. 

REENTRIES 

It is highly important that the declarer should 
plan from the first for reentries. These are the 
sure winners that will bring an estabHshed suit 
into play. The opportunity to make a reentry 
is often lost on the very first trick, through undue 
haste. For example: Dummy is on your right, 
with a big club suit, lacking only the ace. The 
only other possible tricks are the king and jack of 
hearts. You hold ace and one small heart and 
a heart is led, dummy's jack winning the trick 
third hand. 

Unless you have more than two clubs, the whole 
club suit in the dummy is dead if you allow that 
jack of hearts to hold the trick. You must over- 
take the jack with the ace, so as not to be forced 
to win the next round of hearts yourself. Then 
lead the clubs and let dummy continue to lead 
them until the ace is forced out and the suit estab- 
lished. Now dummy's king of hearts is a sure 
reentry. This situation comes up in various 
forms in almost every rubber. 

It is often possible to make a reentry out of an 
inferior card by playing the higher cards from the 
other hand. For example: You are left with two 
or three small cards in the dummy that are now 



1 60 PIRATE BRIDGE 

established as sure winners, but the only other 
cards are the J 9 7 of clubs. If you hold the K 
10 8 6 and lead the ten, you can overtake it with 
the jack if the ace or queen is not played before 
it gets to the dummy's turn. If the jack does not 
hold, you can lead the eight next time and over- 
take it with the nine. Even if that does not hold, 
the seven must do so next time, when you lead the 
six. 

It is an axiom among good players that four of 
a suit in each hand, both hands having high cards, 
can usually make two reentries in the weaker hand. 
Here is an example of such a situation. Dummy 
held the K 7 4 3, declarer having the A Q J 6. 
By leading the queen or jack and winning it with 
the king, dummy used up one reentry. On get- 
ting in again the declarer led out both ace and 
jack, exhausting the opponents, so that dummy's 
seven could win the declarer's six, making the 
second reentry. This situation is very common. 



FINESSING 

A very fine player once remarked that if there 
were no finessing in playing bridge he would quit 
the game. The finesse seems to be even more 
attractive at auction than the cross-ruff was at 
whist. 

A finesse is any attempt to win a trick with a 
card which is not the best you hold in that suit, 
nor in sequence with the best. To play the queen 
third hand when you hold both ace and queen is 
to finesse. It is an attempt to win the trick with 
the inferior card, hoping the king hes on your right. 

The opponents of the declarer never finesse, 
They would be finessing against their own part- 
ners. Suppose one holds ace and queen. If the 
declarer has still to play, and he has the king, the 
queen woiild be thrown away. If the king is with 
the partner of the player who holds ace queen, 
it does not matter which of the two high cards is 
played, and it should be the ace or neither. 

Finessing against your own partner is one of the 
most common faults in a beginner. It not only 
loses tricks, but it discourages the partner from 

II l6i 



i62 PIRATE BRIDGE 

leading that suit again, as he places the higher 
card against him. 

But the declarer finesses all the time when 
dummy is opposite him, as at auction. These 
finesses are of two kinds; those which accom- 
plish all that is expected of them the first time, 
and those that require two leads from the partner's 
hands at different times. They may be under- 
taken when the dummy lies opposite, with an 
adversary on each side, or when the adversary on 
the right leads up to his partner on the left through 
both declarer and dummy hands. If the dummy 
lies next the declarer there is no finessing, but 
tenace positions are valuable in the hand on the 
right. 

The lead of a small card to the ace and queen 
is a good example of a finesse that wins or loses 
all there is to win on the spot. To lead a small 
card to the A Q J, or A J lo, is an example of a 
finesse that must be made twice. If the finesse 
of the jack holds when made from A Q J, the other 
hand should be thrown into the lead again, so as 
to make the second finesse against the king. If 
the ten played from A J lo forces out an honor, 
the other hand must be put into the lead again 
to give the A J a finesse over the honor that is 
still to come. 

One of the most common mistakes of the be- 
ginner, which probably costs more tricks than any 



PIRATE BRIDGE 163 

other play, is trying to finesse with the queen in 
one hand, and the ace in the other. One sees 
beginners continually leading the queen to the 
ace, intending to pass it up if it is not covered, 
under the impression that they are finessing the 
queen. 

But if the second hand has the king it will 
always be put on, so as to force the declarer to 
play two honors to win one trick and also to make 
the jack or ten, or both, good for tricks in the 
partner's hand. If the king is in the fourth hand, 
the queen is thrown away by leading it. 

The only way to play thi^ situation is to lead 
from the hand containing the ace to the hand 
containing the queen. If the king is on the left 
of the ace, the queen must win a trick. If it is 
on the right of the ace there is no way to make a 
trick with the queen unless the player who holds 
the king is forced to lead that suit himself. " 

It is only when all four honors, A Q J 10, are held 
between the two hands that it will pay to lead one 
of the honors to the hand with the ace, because, if 
the king is caught, there are two winning cards 
left at the top of the suit. If it is not caught, 
there are three. 

Leading a jack or ten to an ace is just as useless 
as the lead of the queen. The student should 
take a suit of thirteen cards and lay out these 
various combinations to convince himself that 



i64 



PIRATE BRIDGE 



nothing is to be gained when the second hand 
covers an honor with an honor, to force two for 
one. 

DUCKING 

This must not be confused with finessing, as 
there is no attempt to win the trick on the first 
round. The object of ducking a suit is to leave 
cards of it in both hands. An illustration will 
make this clear. The hand contains examples 
of both the finesse and ducking tactics. 





^ A983 

4^ ak:2 

96 

4 AQ86 




^ K J 10 7 
4i 943 

QIO 

^ 10 9 52 


N 

W E 

S 


^52 

♦ Q J 10 8 7 
J53 

♦ KJ3 



^ Q64 
4^ 65 

AK8742 
♦ 74 

S dealt and bid a diamond, which no one 
accepted. W passed and N bid no-trump, which 
S accepted. E bid two clubs, but N would not 
accept, so E led the queen of clubs, and N won 
the trick. 



PIRATE BRIDGE 165 

N first leads a small heart to the queen in S's 
hand, hoping the king is with E, but W wins and 
returns club nine. This N passes, to exhaust W, 
who goes on, not knowing whether his partner 
has led from Q J 10, or A Q J 10. N wins. S 
discards a spade. 

To make his contract N must get more than two 
diamond tricks, or must make both ace and queen 
of spades. To win the game he must make all 
the diamonds. It is impossible to catch the Q J 10 
and two small ones in two leads, no matter how 
those five cards lie, so N leads a diamond and 
ducks it when E plays small. W wins with the 
ten. 

It does not matter which suit W leads next, as 
N will put on the ace of hearts or spades and lead 
his only remaining diamond. All the diamonds 
drop in two more rounds, and N makes three by 
cards and the game, losing a spade or a heart at 
the end. This would be impossible if the diamond 
suit is not ducked. 

POSTPONED FINESSES 

There are many hands in which it is evident 
to the declarer that he must make a finesse in a 
certain suit, but this may be postponed until 
later in the hand, or it may be put off in the suit 
itself until the second or even the third round, 
instead of being taken at once. 



i66 PIRATE BRIDGE 

A common situation when the declarer and his 
acceptor sit opposite each other is the combina- 
tion of A K J between the two hands, in various 
ways of distribution. If all three honors are in 
the one hand, the finesse of the jack should be 
postponed until the second round if possible, espe- 
cially if the suit is long. If the jack is with one 
of the top cards, it is for the declarer to decide 
when to take the finesse, if at all, as it can be made 
only by leading to the jack, either after winning 
the trick in the other hand or at once. 

To lead the jack to the ace and king in the other 
hand is as useless as leading a queen to an ace, 
because the second hand will surely cover if that 
player holds the queen. If the queen is in the 
fourth hand, the jack is thrown away. 

It is a rule with good players not to finesse on 
the first lead of a suit if the play can be made 
just as well on the second; and not on the second 
round if it can be put off until the third. A player 
does not like to let a singleton queen win a trick 
when there are both ace and king against it. 

It may be well to remind the beginner once more 
that if the hands of declarer and acceptor lie next 
each other, there is no finessing of any kind pos- 
sible. What would be a finesse if the hands were 
opposite each other becomes a certainty if the 
stronger hand is on the right; an impossibility if 
it is on the left unless one adversary leads the suit 



PIRATE BRIDGE 167 

through, and only the other adversary is still to 
play. 

In any finessing position it is highly important 
to keep the lead in the hand that is weaker in the 
suit. Many persons are too careless about this 
matter, and get the lead into the wrong hand. 
Then they have to use a valuable reentry card to 
get back, and perhaps disclose to the adversaries 
the command of a suit they were in doubt about. 

A common error is playing such combinations 
as A Q 10 3 in one hand, J 9 2 in the other. The 
proper lead is the nine, and if the king does not 
cover second hand, the nine holds. The next 
lead is the jack, under which the ten must be 
played if the king is still held up. Now the whole 
suit makes. But if the jack is led first and the 
king does not cover, the ten must be played under 
the jack, or the lead will pass into the other hand. 
If the ten is played and the king is still twice 
guarded, it will cover the nine and force the loss 
of the trey. 

This is an example of situations that are con- 
tinually mismanaged by average players. It is 
always well to allow for the possibility that an 
opponent holds four cards of the suit. If the suit 
is about evenly divided between the two players, 
it does not matter much how it is managed if you 
have three winning cards, but there comes up a 
situation every now and then in which a trick, 



/ 

i68 PIRATE BRIDGE ' 

and perhaps a very important one, can be saved 
by correct play, and nothing can be lost. There 
are other positions in which no play can win any- 
thing beyond what is in sight. 

All these critical situations arise when the 
declarer and dummy sit opposite each other. 
Suppose one hand has the K lo 5 and the other 
has A Q 9 2. If the jack is only twice guarded, 
there are four tricks in the suit, without any 
finessing. If the jack is three times guarded on 
the left of the A Q 9 2, it cannot be caught, be- 
cause the third hand is too short in the suit to 
hold up the king. To finesse the ten on the first 
round and risk a trick at once, would be foolish. 

There is only one way to play so as to make sure 
of four tricks if the jack is where it can be caught. 
This is to lead the ace and play the ten on it. 
Suppose both opponents follow suit. Now lead 
the deuce and win it with the king. If both sides 
follow suit, it is all over, but if the second player 
on this trick drops out, the five can be led to the 
queen nine, and the jack is caught. 

Another position in which it is often necessary 
to postpone the finesse is when the declarer is 
trying to make all five cards of a suit. Suppose 
the cards in one hand are the A 7 4, and in the 
other the K Q 10 5 2. There are five of the suit 
against you. If they are divided three and two, 
there is nothing to play for. If there are ^yq 



PIRATE BRIDGE 169 

in one hand, it is impossible to make five tricks, 
so it all comes down to the question of what to 
do in case there are four in one hand and one in 
the other. 

If the four cards are to the left of the hand that 
is longer in the suit, five tricks are impossible. 
This narrows the problem down to the correct 
play in case the four cards are to the left of the 
shorter hand, the A 7 4 in this case. 

The play is to reverse the usual rule of high 
cards from the hand that is shorter in the suit, 
and to start with the smallest card, the four, 
winning it with the queen, returning a sm^all card 
and putting up the ace. If the second hand re- 
nounces on this return of the suit, the finesse that 
has been postponed until the third round will now 
catch the jack. 

DUMMY'S POSITION 

When the declarer and his acceptor sit opposite 
each other, the play is precisely as at auction, 
and the same tactics apply, the declarer having 
to take the same chances on finessing, as already 
explained in this chapter. But when the declarer 
and his acceptor sit next each other there is a 
wide field for the exercise of skill in arranging for 
the required number of opportunities to lead 
through both adversaries, so as to take advantage 
of tenaces and guarded honors. 



/ 
170 PIRATE BRIDGE ^ 

The first thing that will impress itself upon the 
attention of a person who is accustomed to auction 
will be the restriction of finessing to those suits 
which are led through both hands by the adver- 
sary on the right, up to his partner on the left, 
and the importance of preventing such a lead when 
the declarer is not well protected in such a suit. 
It is just like preventing a lead through a once- 
guarded king in the older game. 

The usual rules for second-hand play will also 
apply only to those situations in which one of the 
adversaries leads through both hands. The com- 
binations from which such a lead should be cov- 
ered will then be governed by the same rules as 
if declarer and dummy sat opposite each other. 

LAWS 

All the regulations for minor offenses in bidding 
and play will be found fully dealt with in the official 
laws of the game, which follow. These laws are 
naturally founded upon those of Auction Bridge 
except in matters that require a consideration of 
the individual character of the play, and that 
partners are not responsible for each other's errors 
until the final bid is made and accepted. 



THE LAWS OF PIRATE BRIDGE 

(Copyright, 19 16, by R. F. Foster) 
(All Rights Reserved) 



FORMING TABLES 

1. Those first in the room shall have the right 
to play the first rubber, candidates of equal 
standing deciding their order by cutting. If a 
player exposes more than one card, the highest 
is his cut. A table is complete with six players, 
four of whom are active in each rubber. 

2. Players wishing to enter an incomplete 
table must signify their intention before the cards 
are cut for the next rubber. Those who have 
played the greatest number of consecutive rubbers 
retire. Equalities are decided by cutting, the 
highest going out. 

3. In making up new tables, those who have 
not played at other tables have the prior right. 
If a player who is cut out of another table helps 
to make up a new table that cannot be formed 
without him, he shall be the last to cut out at 
the new table and may retain his position at the 

171 



172 PIRATE BRIDGE 

first table by announcing his return to it as soon 
as his position can be filled at the new table; but 
any player leaving one table to enter another 
that can be formed without him, loses his right 
at the first table. 

4. Any player who is compelled to leave a 
table during a rubber may appoint a substitute, 
but such appointment ends with the rubber and 
does not affect the substitute's rights for entry 
into the next rubber. Should one player break 
up a table, the others have the prior right of 
entry elsewhere. 

CUTTING AND DEALING 

5. The four active players draw from a spread 
pack for the first deal and choice of seats and 
cards. Low wins. The lowest having made his 
selection the others sit in order to his left, accord- 
ing to the rank of their cards. All draw from the 
same pack, and the four cards at each end must 
not be drawn. 

6. In drawing the ace is low. If cards of 
equal value are drawn, the spade shall have the 
preference, hearts next, then diamonds. In draw- 
ing for seats, if a player exposes more than one 
card he must draw again. 

7. After the first deal, the player sitting op- 
posite the dealer shall collect the cards of the still 
pack for the next deal, shuffle them, and place 



PIRATE BRIDGE 173 

them on his right. When this pack is brought 
into play, any one at the table has the right to 
shuffle it, the dealer last. The deal passes to 
the left. If new cards are called for at any time, 
two packs must be provided and the next dealer 
takes his choice. 

8. The dealer must present the pack to the 
player on his right to be cut and at least four 
cards must be left in each packet. If any card 
is exposed, or the place of cutting is uncertain, 
the dealer must reshuffle and present the pack 
again. Should the dealer reshuffle after a proper 
cut, any other player may demand a shuffle. 

9. The cards shall be dealt from left to right, 
one at a time, and the deal is complete when the 
last card falls in its proper place to the dealer. 

10. No matter what irregularities occur, the 
deal is not lost. There must be a new deal if it 
is made with the wrong cards ; if the pack has not 
been properly cut ; if any card is found faced in 
the pack; if each player does not receive the right 
number of cards, one at a time; or if the pack 
is proved incorrect or imperfect by reason of 
missing or superfluous cards, or cards so marked or 
torn that they may be recognized by the back. 

11. A player dealing out of turn, or with the 
wrong pack, must be stopped before the last card 
is dealt, or the deal stands, and the protest must 
be made by a player who has not lifted or looked 



174 PIRATE BRIDGE 

at any of his cards. When a deal out of turn 
stands, the next deal passes to the left; but if it 
was made with the wrong cards, the next dealer 
may take his choice. 

12. Any player who lifts and looks at any of 
his cards before the deal is complete shall forfeit 
25 points in honors to each of the others for each 
card so looked at. 

13. If the pack is proved to be imperfect 
before the cards are cut for the following deal, 
or the score of the rubber made up and agreed 
to, the deal with the imperfect pack is void, but 
all previous scores or cutting made with that pack 
shall stand. 

14. If any player have less than thirteen cards, 
the others having their right number, that card 
must be found if the deal was apparently regular, 
or he will be responsible for any revokes, just as 
if the card had been in his hand. If two players 
have a wrong number, the fifty-two cards being 
in evidence, the deal is void. 

THE DECLARATIONS 

15. The dealer, after examining his hand, 
may name any suit, or no-trump, declaring to 
win any number of tricks from one to seven over 
his book. [The declarer's book is the first six 
tricks he wins. His opponents' book is the differ- 
ence between the contract and seven.] If the 



PIRATE BRIDGE 175 

dealer passes, each player to the left in turn may 
then bid or pass. 

16. If any player makes a bid, each in turn to 
the left may accept him as a partner or pass, the 
phrase being, " I accept," or, " I accept two hearts,'* 
or "I pass." 

17. There shall be no further bidding and no 
doubling until the bidder has been accepted. 
Any player making a bid out of turn or before the 
previous bid has been accepted, shall forfeit his 
right to bid until the current bid has been accepted 
(or becomes void) and another bid is made by 
some other player; but he may accept this new 
bid. 

18. If no one will accept the first bid made, it 
is void, and the player to the left of the bidder 
may declare himself; but no player whose bid 
has not been accepted can bid again until some 
other player's bid is accepted, but he may be the 
acceptor of another's bid. If no one can make a 
bid of any sort, or if none of the bids made is 
accepted, the deal is void and passes to the left. 

19. As soon as a bid is accepted, any player in 
turn to the left, including the bidder who has just 
been accepted, may bid higher or pass. If he is 
not the bidder or acceptor, he may double. An 
acceptor cannot overcall his own acceptance if 
no accepted bid or double has intervened. 

20. An equal number of tricks in diamonds 



176 PIRATE BRIDGE 

will outbid clubs; hearts outrank diamonds, and 
spades outrank hearts; no-trumps outrank any 
suit. A larger number of tricks in any suit will 
outrank a smaller number in anything; so that 
four clubs is better than three no-trumps. 

21. After a bid is made and accepted, if any 
higher bid is made and not accepted, that bid is 
void and the bid returns to the last acceptance. 
The player whose bid is not accepted cannot bid 
again unless some player to his left can make an 
acceptable bid. If no such bid is made and 
accepted, the bidding is closed, the last acceptance 
becoming the winning declaration. A player who 
has passed an acceptance cannot reenter the bid- 
ding if the only bid after his acceptance is declared 
void. 

23. A slip of the tongue may be corrected 
before the next player declares himself, such as 
two hearts, when two spades was meant, but the 
size of the bid may not be changed, and a pass, 
double, or acceptance cannot be recalled. An 
insufficient declaration must be made sufficient 
provided attention is called to it before the next 
player declares himself, otherwise it stands, and 
may be accepted. 

23. Any player may be informed as to what 
the previous bids have been, and who accepted 
them, but after the final bid has been accepted 
and the first card led, any such information shall 



PIRATE BRIDGE 177 

be given under a penalty of 50 points in honors, 
to be scored by each of the other players. 

DOUBLING 

24. No player may double his own or his part- 
ner's bid, nor redouble his partner's double or 
redouble an opponent's redouble, under penalty 
of 25 points for a double, or 50 for a redouble, 
scored by each of the others. 

25. When a bid has been accepted, either of 
the opponents, in his proper turn, may double, 
and then either the bidder or his acceptor in his 
proper turn may redouble, but that ends it. The 
penalty for doubling out of turn is the same as 
for a bid out of turn. [See Law 17.] 

26. A double reopens the bidding, as it cannot 
be accepted. Doubling does not affect the rank 
of the bids, so that three hearts doubled, or even 
redoubled, may still be overcalled with three 
spades. 

27. When a doubled or redoubled declaration 
is played, the value of the tricks and revoke 
penalty is doubled or redoubled, but not the 
honors, nor slams. 

THE PLAY 

28. No matter what the previous bids have 
been, nor by whom made, the player who makes 



178 PIRATE BRIDGE 

the final accepted bid becomes the declarer and 
plays the combined hands, his acceptor becom- 
ing the dummy, without changing his position at 
the table. 

29. The player to the left of the declarer leads 
for the first trick, unless that person happens to 
be dummy, in which case the player to his left 
leads. As soon as the first card is led, the accept- 
or's cards are laid down, sorted into suits and 
face up, and they may be immediately to the right 
or left of the declarer, or opposite him, according 
to the position occupied by the acceptor. 

30. If the wrong player leads for the first 
trick, not being dummy, the declarer may either 
accept the lead or prevent the rightful leader 
from leading that suit; or he may call the erro- 
neous lead an exposed card. 

31. Each player in turn to the left must follow 
suit if he can, or he is responsible for a revoke. 
Having none of the suit led, he may trump or 
discard at pleasure. 

ERRORS IN PLAY 

32. If either adversary of the declarer leads 
when it is his partner's turn, the declarer may 
call the card exposed and demand it be left on 
the table subject to call; or he may call a suit from 
the proper leader, in which case the card led in 



PIRATE BRIDGE 179 

error shall be taken up. If either declarer or 
dummy play to the incorrect lead, it stands with- 
out penalty. If both adversaries lead at the same 
instant, the correct lead stands; the other is an 
exposed card. 

33. If it is the turn of neither opponent to 
lead, when one of them does so, a suit may be 
called as soon as either regains the lead, the card 
led in error being left on the table as a marker 
until the declarer decides whether to call that card 
or call a suit, but he cannot do both. 

34. If the declarer leads out of turn, either 
from his own hand or dummy, he cannot correct 
the error unless directed to do so by an adversary. 
If either adversary plays to the lead without 
correcting it, it stands. 

35. If a player who is called upon to lead a 
suit have none of it, no other suit can be called, 
and he may lead as he pleases. 

36. Should one adversary play to a trick when 
it is his partner's turn, the one who has not 
played may be called upon for his highest or 
lowest card of the suit, or to win or not to win the 
trick. If he has none of the suit led, he may be 
called upon to discard his highest card in any suit 
the declarer names. If he has none of that suit 
either, the penalty is paid. If the declarer plays 
from both hands without waiting for the opponent 
between, either of them may play first. 



i8o PIRATE BRIDGE 

37. If any one but dummy fails to play to a 
trick and it is not corrected before the same 
player has played to the next trick, the side not 
in error may demand a new deal. If the deal is 
allowed to stand, the superfluous card at the end 
belongs to the imperfect trick, but is not a revoke. 

38. If two or more cards are played to the 
same trick by any one except dummy, and the 
mistake is not discovered and corrected before 
playing to the next trick, the player in error is 
responsible for revokes, just as if he still held one 
of those cards in hand, and the adversaries have 
the option of a new deal. If he announces the 
shortage before the deal is played out, he may 
search the tricks and turn up the one containing 
five cards, restoring his own card to his hand to 
save any further revokes. Either of the partners 
not in error may decide, without consultation, 
which card shall be withdrawn, but the trick 
remains as won. 

39. Any player looking at a trick that has 
been properly turned down and quitted by the 
rightful winners, except under Law 38, shall 
forfeit 25 points in honors to each of the others. 

40. If either adversary calls attention to a 
trick before his partner plays, by saying it is his, 
or indicating his card, the declarer may call upon 
the partner to play his highest or lowest of the 
suit, or to win or lose the trick. x\ny player may 



PIRATE BRIDGE i8i 

ask the cards to be placed before those who 
played them. 

41. Either adversary may prevent his partner 
from leading out of turn, but should he call atten- 
tion to any incident of the play the declarer may 
call a suit from the one whose next turn it will be 
to lead. 

42. If an adversary name a card in his own or 
his partner's hand, or make any remark that 
would locate a card or cards in any hand but 
dummy's, such cards shall be placed on the table 
as exposed if held by the adversaries. If held by 
the declarer, he may call a suit. 

EXPOSED CARDS 

43. If any player exposes a card after the deal 
and before the end of the bidding, each of the 
others shall score 25 in honors. Should the 
player in error eventually prove to be an oppo- 
nent of the declarer's but not the leader for the 
first trick, the declarer may prevent the initial 
lead of the exposed suit. If the player in error 
becomes the declarer or his acceptor, there is no 
penalty. 

44. If a card is exposed after the winning dec- 
laration has been settled, and before play begins, 
the declarer may call it exposed and subject to 
call, or he may call a suit if it is the partner's turn 



i82 PIRATE BRIDGE 

to lead for the first trick. The declarer may 
expose any or all his own cards without penalty. 

45. If, during the play, a card is dropped face 
upward on the table by an adversary, even if no 
one can name it, or if it is so held that the partner 
can see any portion of its face, it is an exposed 
card and subject to call by the declarer. If two 
or more cards are played to the same trick, the 
declarer may choose which shall be played; the 
others are exposed. 

46. Cards dropped on the floor or below the 
table are not exposed cards; neither are cards 
shown to the declarer or dummy, but not to the 
partner. 

47. A card detached from the hand of the de- 
clarer is not played until it is placed face upward 
on the table and the fingers removed from it. 

48. If an adversary expose his last card before 
his partner has played to the twelfth trick, both 
cards in the partner's hand shall be placed on the 
table and subject to call. 

49. If one adversary continue to lead cards one 
after another that neither declarer nor dummy can 
win, without waiting for the partner to play, the 
partner may be called upon to win, if he can, any 
one of those tricks. If the partner can win such 
a trick, the other premature leads become exposed 
cards. 

50. If an adversary abandons his hand, all 



PIRATE BRIDGE 183 

the cards in it become exposed, but the partner 
may hold his. If the declarer at any time claims 
the rest of the tricks, or names the number he 
will win, his cards must be placed face upward 
on the table and played without any finesse not 
absolutely proved to be a winner. Any cards 
exposed by his adversaries in consequence of his 
assertion cannot be called. Tricks conceded in 
error by either side must stand. 

51. The call for an exposed card may be re- 
peated by the declarer until it can be played, but 
no one can be compelled to play a card that would 
cause him to revoke. 

THE REVOKE 

52. Each player in turn must follow suit if he 
can, or it is a revoke. If dummy revokes, there 
is no penalty. A revoke is established as soon as 
the trick in which it occurs is turned and quitted 
by the rightful winners, or when the player in 
error, or his partner, whether in his right turn or 
not, leads or plays to the following trick. Any 
refusal to comply with a performable penalty is 
also a revoke. 

53. The penalty for a revoke, when claimed 
and proved, shall be 50 points* in the honor col- 
umn, to be scored by each of the three who are not 
in error. But if the partner of the one who revokes 



i84 PIRATE BRIDGE 

has failed to ask him if he had none of the suit to 
which he renounced, the partner must pay the 50 
in honors to each of the three others, the player 
actually in error paying nothing. Neither de- 
clarer nor acceptor can be penalized for any re- 
vokes made by the dummy, as those cards are 
exposed. 

54. If the contract has been doubled or re- 
doubled, the revoke penalty is also doubled or 
redoubled. 

55. Before the trick is turned and quitted any 
player may ask the revoker if he has none of the 
suit to which he renounces. Subsequent turning 
and quitting does not establish the revoke unless 
the question is answered in the negative, or the 
player in error leads or plays to the following trick. 

56. Should dummy leave the table during the 
play, he may ask the courtesy of the table to 
protect him from revokes by the declarer during 
his absence. 

57. If a revoke is corrected in time, the players 
who have followed may withdraw their cards and 
substitute others without penalty. When a re- 
voke by an adversary is corrected, the declarer 
may either call the card played in error exposed, 
or he may ask for the highest or lowest of the suit 
to be played to the current trick. 

58. If the declarer corrects his revoke there is 
no penalty unless both adversaries have played to 



PIRATE BRIDGE 185 

the trick and the declarer is not the last player. 
If dummy is still to play, the opponents may call 
upon the declarer for his highest or lowest of the 
suit when he corrects his revoke. 

59. Revokes must be claimed and proved be- 
fore the cards are cut for the following deal or 
rubber, or before the final score of the rubber is 
made up and agreed to. 

60. If more than one revoke is made by the 
same partners, the penalty is 50 for each, but if 
both sides revoke, the one oftener than the other, 
the difference only is scored. 

DUMMY 

61 . As soon as the first card is led by the proper 
player the acceptor's cards are placed face upward 
on the table in front of him, sorted into suits, 
trumps to the right, if any, and the declarer then 
plays all cards from that hand. 

62. Until his hand is laid down, the acceptor 
has all the rights of any other player and may 
call • attention to a lead from the wrong hand, 
exposed cards, etc., but after his cards are laid 
down he takes no part in the play except as 
follows : 

(a) He may call attention to too many or too 
few cards in a trick, or to a trick taken by 
the wrong side. 



1 86 PIRATE BRIDGE 

(b) He may ask any player if he has none of 
the suit led. 

(c) He may correct an improper demand for a 
penalty. 

(d) He may take part in any dispute which he 
did not himself begin. 

(e) He may call attention to an adverse revoke 
after it is established, or to exposed cards 
or leads out of turn; but only on condition 
that he has not deliberately overlooked the 
hand of either adversary. 

(f) He may also remind the declarer of any 
rights he may have under the laws, or insist 
that a hand be played out, instead of con- 
ceding tricks. 

63. If dummy call attention to any other inci- 
dent of the play for which the declarer might 
have exacted a penalty, the penalty cannot be 
demanded. 

64. If dummy suggests the play of any card, 
as by touching one of his own or naming one of the 
declarer*s, either adversary may demand that 
such card shall or shall not be played to the current 
trick. 

65. If dummy tries to prevent the declarer 
from leading from the wrong hand, either adver- 
sary may insist that the lead shall come from that 
hand. 



PIRATE BRIDGE 187 

66. Should the declarer name or touch any 
card in the dummy without first announcing that 
he is arranging the hand, that card must be played. 
If he touches more than one, he may play either. 

67. In all cases in which declarer or dummy 
is liable to a penalty, either adversary may demand 
it, or direct his partner to do so, but they may not 
consult, nor even ask which of them shall enforce it. 

SCORING 

68. An individual score shall be kept for each 
of the four players. All tricks over the declarer's 
book count toward his contract. When this is 
fulfilled, he scores for each trick over his book, 6 
points if clubs are trumps; 7 if diamonds; 8 if 
hearts; 9 if spades, and 10 if no-trumps. These 
values may be doubled or redoubled. 

69. When the declarer reaches or passes 30 
points, made by tricks alone, he wins a game, 
draws a Hne under it and adds 50 points in the 
honor column. Every hand is played out, and 
all tricks over the contract or beyond the game 
are scored. 

70. Only the individual declarer can score 
below the line toward game, but the total value 
of all the points he wins, except the final 50 for the 
rubber, are credited to his acceptor in the honor 
column. 



1 88 PIRATE BRIDGE 

71 . The first player to win two games wins the 
rubber, for which he receives 50 points in addition 
to the regular 50 for winning a game; but this 
additional 50 is not credited to his acceptor. 

"]2. If the partners win thirteen tricks they 
each score 100 for grand slam. If they win twelve, 
they score 50 for little slam, whether they are the 
declarers or not. These values are not affected 
by doubling. If the declaration is seven and only 
six by cards is made, the little slam is still scored. 

73. The honors are the ace, king, queen, jack, 
ten, of the trump suit, or the four aces at no-trump. 
Three honors between partners are equal in value 
to two tricks in that suit, such as 12 points if clubs 
are trumps. Four honors between partners are 
worth four tricks ; five are worth five tricks. Four 
or five in one hand are worth double. Four in 
one hand, fifth in the partner's, are worth nine 
tricks, such as 81 if spades were trumps. All 
honors are scored above the line and are not affected 
by doubling. Honors are credited to the original 
holders. 

74. Three aces at no-trump are worth 30 ; four 
aces between partners, 40; four in one hand 100. 

75. If the declarer fulfils his contract after 
being doubled he adds a bonus of 50 points in 
honors, and 50 more for each trick over his con- 
tract, if any. This bonus is increased to 100 if the 
contract was redoubled. 



PIRATE BRIDGE 189 

76. If the contract fails, the adversaries score 
nothing toward game, but they take 50 points in 
honors for each trick over their book — that is, for 
each undertrick of the declarer's. This will be 
100 if they have doubled; 200 if redoubled. 

77. In case of revokes, the penalty is 50 points 
for each, 100 if doubled, 200 if redoubled, for 
either side. 

78. Any error in the honor score must be 
claimed and proved before the score for the 
rubber is made up and agreed upon. An error 
in the trick score must be corrected before the 
first bid is made on the following deal; or, if 
there is no such deal, before the rubber score is 
agreed to. 

79. At the end of the rubber, all the scores 
are added and each player pays to or receives 
from each of the others the difference between 
his total and theirs. 

80. If the play is started with the under- 
standing that it shall stop at a certain hour, and 
the current rubber is not finished at that time, 
there shall be no further dealing, and the score 
shall be made up as it stands. If there has been 
no such understanding and one of the players 
leaves the game without providing a substitute, 
his opponents may make up the score as it stands 
or cancel it entirely for the current rubber. 



